India vs Australia

SKY has had a tough time against Australia in the ODI series. He was dismissed twice by seamer Mitchell Starc in the first ball of his innings, resulting in two golden ducks in two matches. "Suryakumar got two beauties from Mitchell Starc. But he knows where he would have been bowling, he's got to be sharper than that in the first couple of balls," Finch told Star Sports.

India are leading the series 2-1 and need to win the fourth Test to secure a place in the WTC final while Australia would like to win the match to finish the series 2-2 and return home with a lot of pride. With so much at stake for both teams, the pitch for the fourth Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium here was under focus when India head coach Rahul Dravid came in for a pre-match press conference.

While Starc had a tendon injury on his middle finger while trying to take a catch in the deep, Green had fractured his right index finger while batting against tearaway pacer Anrich Nortje and needed surgery. But in Wednesday's practice session, Green showed that he could get into the playing eleven for Friday's Test as a genuine all-rounder.

After initially facing pace, Kohli was facing spin mostly. He was trying to be aggressive by using his feet in facing the spinners. He held technical talks with batting coach Vikram Rathour on how he should be facing deliveries coming from rough, followed by facing a lot of deliveries from India A and Uttar Pradesh left-arm spinner Sourabh as well as Delhi spinners Pulkit Narang and Hrithik Shokeen.

After playing the first Test at the VCA Stadium in Jamtha, Nagpur, India and Australia will play the next three Tests in New Delhi (February 17-21), Dharamshala (March 1-5) and Ahmedabad (March 9-13). India are the current holders of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, having won the last three series against Australia in 2017, 2018-19 and 2020-21. Australia, on the other hand, last won a Test series in India in 2004.

"I want the ball to turn from Day one! If you lose the toss, so be it. You want to see the ball turning a bit. Or something there for the bowlers on offer from Day one. It's your strength. You're playing at home. Capitalise on it," he said in a press conference organised by Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

At the same time, Shastri cautioned Ashwin about overthinking his plans while bowling to the Australian batters. With Ashwin, who's picked 89 wickets against Australia in Tests apart from making 457 runs against them, looming as a large threat, the visitors' had been practising in Alur against Baroda off-spinner Mahesh Pithiya, who has an eerie resemblance to the bowling action of Ashwin.