Two Australian Test greats have put the blowtorch on Australian selectors for the stunning axing of Travis Head in Nagpur.
After days of focus on the wicket, the action will take centre stage as Australia tries to prevail on one of the toughest tours in international cricket.
Can Pat Cummins’ team strike the first blow?
Follow live below with News Corp cricket writer Ben Horne.
3.47pm WAUGH BEMUSED OVER HEAD SELECTION SNUB
Test legends Steve Waugh and Matthew Hayden have become the first high profile Australian greats to question the shock axing of Travis Head for the first Test in India.
Hayden said he was speechless that arguably Australia’s best batsman of the summer would be dumped for Peter Handscomb as a horses for courses bombshell.
Speaking on commentary broadcast on Fox Cricket, Hayden suggested Head was himself in disbelief.
“I can’t believe it. Mark Waugh actually was right next to him, and nor could Travis Head in that brief conversation,” Hayden said on Fox.
“For me he was player of the summer. Totally different conditions I know in Brisbane at the Gabba but his 90 in Brisbane was just so damn good. He made it like it was flat and it wasn’t. It was an absolute raging green top.
“But his mindset and his ability to be able to score quickly … I’m just speechless.”
Waugh was willing to give selectors the benefit of the doubt until after the innings, but questioned whether George Bailey and Andrew McDonald have “overanalysed” the decision to drop Head.
“Hard to believe we can drop the number 4 ranked test batsman in the world and probably our best batsman in the last 12 months plus he bowls better than average off spin – let’s wait and see- maybe the Aussie selectors are genius’s! #gamble #overanalysing? #waitandsee,” posted Waugh to social media.
Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne have launched a gutsy rescue mission after the early losses of Usman Khawaja and David Warner.
3.19PM WARNER GONE
Australia is in early disarray with David Warner following fellow opener Usman Khawaja back into the sheds after some superb Indian swing bowling.
After the stunning axing of Travis Head, Australia find themselves 2-6 and with Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith needing to perform a rescue mission in Nagpur if the visitors are going to overcome the early drama.
Mark Waugh said on Fox Cricket that Warner left too big a gap between his pad and bat and was too far back on the crease as Mohammad Shami took his off-stump in just the third over of the Test.
It followed Khawaja falling to a tight DRS review which India asked for just one second before the timer expired.
Commentators felt live that the ball to Khawaja was only clipping his leg-stump but replays sent him on his way.
Australia were worried about too many left-handers in their line-up and two of them are already gone.
3.08PM KHAWAJA GONE
Usman Khawaja is out and Australia is 1-2 after a perfectly-timed DRS from India. He goes lbw to Siraj. And here’s a look at the area which had Australia spooked.
3PM FANS REACT TO HEAD STUNNER
Tim Michell
Cricket fans and journalists have been left stunned by Australia’s decision to back Matthew Renshaw and Peter Handscomb over Travis Head in the first Test.
While Head’s record outside Australia is poor, he was arguably Australia’s best-performed batsman in home series against South Africa and West Indies.
It was expected a selection shootout between Handscomb and Renshaw would decide the No.6 batting spot, with the Victorian skipper firming due to a pitch set to terrorise left-handers.
But it was instead Head who was left out when the teams were unveiled on Thursday.
Zac Standish tweeted: “How you can justify dropping Travis Head is honestly ridiculous. Even if he isn’t the best player of spin he has the runs on the board to be given a chance. About as ridiculous a selection call as I can remember.”
Tristan Lavalette added: “Surely Travis Head had to be backed in for the first Test. Massive call – not just for this match and series but his standing moving forward. Hard to remember a more brutal axing for an Australian player.”
SA-based journalist Corey Norris summed up the mood in Adelaide, tweeting: “That’s a terrible decision. Needed to give him a chance to prove he’s worked on his technique against spin,” while Xavier Ellis said: “WTF… one of the few I love watching.”
News Corp’s Daniel Cherny described the bombshell as “the boldest horses for courses selection decision Australia has made in decades, possibly ever.”
2,35PM HEAD DUMPED IN SELECTION SHOCK
Selectors have dropped a selection bombshell by axing arguably Australia’s best batsman of the summer Travis Head for the first Test in India.
Australia has won what could be a crucial toss on a treacherous wicket and will bat first in Nagpur.
In a conditions based selection, right-hander Peter Handscomb has been thrust in to play his first Test since 2019 to combat the allegedly doctored pitch in Nagpur designed to thwart Australia’s left-hand heavy batting line-up.
However the major shock which will leave Aussie fans stunned is that it is Head and not Matthew Renshaw who is making way for Handscomb.
Head struggled in the sub-continent last year against Pakistan and Sri Lanka but was determined to reinvent himself on this trip by adopting an ultra-aggressive style.
Even though it’s a conditions based decision to get spin-adept Renshaw and Handscomb into the team, it’s still a bitter pill for Head to swallow given he has been Australia’s best batsman at home for the last two summers.
His ability to take a game away from an opposition in a session makes him a unique commodity.
But Australia still don’t feel his spin skills are good enough for such extreme conditions and he has been relegated to 12th man.
As pointed to first by News Corp, Todd Murphy makes his Test debut as Nathan Lyon’s spin partner.
2:25pm SKY THE LIMIT FOR INDIA
India has handed a stunning Test debut to T20 phenomenon, Suryakumar “SKY” Yadav as the hosts throw down the gauntlet to Australia in Nagpur.
Yadav has forged a reputation as a six-hitting freak in the white ball formats, but 79 first-class matches he finally gets to pull a Test shirt on for India, aged 32.
SKY will attack from the outset and will put the pressure on Australia to play with an aggressive mindset in the first Test in Nagpur.
Todd Murphy has received his baggy green as confirmation the Victorian off-spinner will be making his Test debut for Australia.
Teams will be confirmed at the toss shortly.
EARLIER REPORTS
India’s targeted doctoring of the Nagpur wicket has David Warner seriously considering batting right-handed at times in today’s first Test match and seen selectors call Todd Murphy up to the team to make his debut for Australia after just a handful of games for his state.
Murphy, is going to make his Test debut after one of the more remarkable rises from obscurity in Australian bowling history.
The 22-year-old will be presented his baggy green after just five games for Victoria.
Warner is understood to be considering batting right handed to counter India’s pitch doctoring designed to foil Australia’s long list of left handed batsmen.
He has been practicing right-handed at times in the nets and told teammates he would do the same but it remains to be seen if he is bold enough to do it in a Test.
There is a patch outside the left-hander’s off stump that appears to have been doctored to create more turn.
Australia’s top order is dominated by left handers while India’s has none,
Warner batted an entire season in junior cricket right handed and sustained the same performances across the season.
Joe Root batted left handed for two deliveries in a Test against Pakistan at Rawalpindi in December to counter the spin.
Sunil Gavaskar did similar in a Ranji Trophy semi-final in 1982 to counter the left arm spinner and swapped to a more orthodox approach for the right armrest.
Murphy’s rise from obscurity to the Test team has come at extraordinary speed.
Even Shane Warne had played seven before his debut in 1991.
An phenomenal talent who impresses all who see him, he made his Australia A debut after two games.
Murphy had a long meeting with coaches and Nathan Lyon on the eve of the match, New Zealand legend and spin bowling coach Daniel Vettori is on hand to guide him in his preparation.
Vettori made his debut after just two first class games.
Both players began life as medium pacers. Vettori was convinced to give up seam bowling by his college head master and was just 18 when the new skill gave him entrée to the national team.
Murphy was bowling medium pace at a rep trial in Shepparton when a chance encounter with former Victorian spinner Craig Howard changed the course of his life.
Howard, who was there to watch his son and had no involvement with the squad, saw the aspiring batsman sending down some off spin.
Murphy was bowling slow because he’d grown tired of his stock medium pace deliveries.
Howard mentioned to the coaches that he thought the teen was the best off-spinner they had and changed the course of his life.
Murphy moved to Bendigo to play for Sandhurst where he was coached by Howard who lives in the Victorian city.
Australia’s decision to go with two off-spinners is extraordinary but Ashton Agar has struggled with his rhythm since arriving in India.
The last time an Australian side played two off-spinners was in 1988 when Peter Taylor and Tim May teamed up across the border from India in Karachi.
‘BULL****’: LEGEND SLAMS PITCH DOCTOR TALK
Outspoken former India head coach Ravi Shastri has claimed talk around Nagpur’s suspect pitch is a case of sour grapes.
Claims of a ‘pitch fix’ has dominated the first Test narrative following evidence of local ground staff deliberately trying to doctor the wicket in India’s favour.
Shastri, however, dropped the tried and true method of deflecting criticism of a pitch.
“That’s bulls–t,” Shastri told SEN Sporstday.
“It’s more hype than anything else surrounding this first Test match.
“It always happens, you get 15mm grass, 18mm grass or 12mm grass in different places around the ground … at the end of this first Test, I’m sure there’ll be someone who scores a hundred.
“If someone can get a hundred or 80+ on that pitch, they’ve played well and he will go and say, ‘What’s wrong with the pitch? You stay there, you apply yourself, your shot selection is good, you get runs’.
“But if you go out there and think you’re going to smash every ball, good luck to you.”
Good luck indeed if you are one of Australia’s many left-handed bats. The two sections of the pitch seemingly left unattended by the Nagpur curator are the roughs outside the left-handers off stump. Maybe Australia should have had its warm-up matches on the Lake Eyre basin …
INDIAN TOUR CRYSTAL BALL: WHO WINS, WHO STARS, WHO TO FEAR?
Australia are attempting to win their first series in India in almost 20 years and while Pat Cummins and his men might be the current world No.1 rated Test team, there is no more daunting task in cricket than trying to win on Indian soil.
News Corp’s leading cricket writers take a look at the upcoming series with some bold and fearless predictions about what Australia simply must do if they’re to create history over the next month and become the first Aussie team to win a series in India since 2004.
BEN HORNE
Who wins the series:
India 2-1. These teams are evenly matched but the conditions are extreme – and made even more extreme by allegations of Indian pitch doctoring.
Star of the series:
Steve Smith. Appears in golden form and usually when Smith is in that kind of mood it transcends formats and conditions. One of the best batsmen against spin in the world.
The selection gamble Australia must make:
Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green to come straight back for the second Test. Australia needs its big guns and the pairing changes the entire complexion of the Aussie line-up.
The Indian player Australia should fear most:
Ravindra Jadeja. Freak of a player who dominated the 2017 series and with bat and ball could prove the point of difference in this series.
What will be the biggest challenge for Pat Cummins this tour?
Getting through the physical and mental workload of playing every Test with little fast bowling support. Australia can’t afford to burn Cummins’ out before the Ashes.
ROBERT CRADDOCK
Who wins the series:
India 2-1. Australia are off balance with three key injuries. I sense they will improve in whatever they do in the first Test but India are just so hard at home.
Star of the series:
Ravi Jadeja may be short on recent form but his darting spin is so difficult to play. If Scott Boland gets a start he will surprise people.
The selection gamble Australia must make:
Alex Carey to No 6 and play five bowlers while Cam Green is out. It is a big gamble but an essential one. C’mon Australia. Be bold.
The Indian player Australia should fear most:
Spinner Axar Patel has a Test bowling average over 11 runs per wicket for his short career. Not a man to be underestimated.
What will be the biggest challenge for Pat Cummins this tour?
Staying cool and calm. It’s the only way Australia can beat India. Once the Indians get fired up they take the crowd with them it all becomes too much.
PETER LALOR
Who wins the series:
History says India will win but I’ve got a nagging feeling the Australians can almost do it. Almost. India 2-1. Hope I’m wrong.
Star of the series:
Virat Kohli or Steve Smith. Both former captains. Both on the rise again. Runs are hard and valuable because of that. Wickets will be easier and Axar Patel will take lots.
The selection gamble Australia must make:
Todd Murphy. Todd Murphy. And Todd Murphy.
The Indian player Australia should fear most:
Axar Patel has been bowling brilliantly. He was magnificent against England.
What will be the biggest challenge for Pat Cummins this tour?
Pat Cummins’ biggest challenge will be getting through the first Test without Cam Green. If he gets them through unscathed look out.
Originally published as India v Australia: Follow all the action from the first Test in Nagpur
