A record turnover of over 86,000 cricket fans are expected to fill up the world-famous Melbourne Cricket Ground for the fourth Test between Australia and India on Boxing Day.
The Border–Gavaskar Trophy hangs in the balance heading to the MCG, with these fierce rivals splitting the first two Tests one win apiece before rain had the last word at the Gabba last week.
Match preview
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After knocking over India's final wicket just four overs into the day's play and establishing a 185-run first-innings lead, Australia launched one last effort to secure victory at the Gabba, declaring at 89 for 7 after a chaotic 18 overs in their second innings.
That left India with a target of 275 in a theoretical 54 overs, but only 2.1 overs were possible before bad light forced the players off the field, and rain returned to bring an early end to the match, leaving the teams locked at 1-1 heading to Melbourne.
Securing positive results over the final two Tests of this series will be crucial to both these sides' hopes of playing in the World Test Championship, with Australia and India currently second and third in the standings respectively behind South Africa at the top.
The Wallabies will enter the fourth Test aiming to maintain their strong record at the MCG, where they have won four of their last five matches, and hold an all-time record of 67 wins, 32 defeats and 17 drawn results in 116 games.
Melbourne Cricket Ground curator Matt Page said in the lead-up to the match that his team have opted to leave more grass on the pitch and revealed that he did not expect much help for spinners, saying "Over the last four of five years, they've been more seam-friendly than spin-friendly, so I don't see that changing here."
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Indeed, there has been plenty of talk about the surfaces in Melbourne in recent days, particularly the state of the practice pitches, after comments were made about the stark contrast in the quality of practice facilities allocated to the teams.
Images on social media revealed that the hosts seemed to have been provided new and greener surfaces, while the visitors were allocated noticeably older ones, which led to the likes of Indian paceman Akash Deep raising his concerns on the matter, stating that the practice pitches allocated to his side seemed suited to limited-overs cricket as they lacked bounce.
Deep was also the centre of attention during a press conference over the weekend, when, according to Australian media group 7 News, the Indian team's decision to send the fast bowler - who has limited proficiency in English - was a strategic move to avoid tough questions from the media.
Their allegations intensified as they claimed the fast bowler notably avoided addressing questions about the ongoing tensions between the two cricketing nations, and when an Australian journalist encouraged an Indian reporter to ask about these tensions, Deep explained that he was uncomfortable with the line of questioning.
Fair to say then, the stage is set for what should be a heated battle in Melbourne, where India has a massive following and a good record in recent times, winning their last two Boxing Day Tests and drawing one before that.
Team News
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Australia are expected to make at least a couple of changes for the Melbourne Test, with the first being Scott Boland coming in for Josh Hazlewood, who sustained a right calf strain during the match at the Gabba.
The spotlight will also be on 19-year-old Sam Konstas, who is expected to be handed his Test debut at the MCG, having been called up after Nathan McSweeney failed to impress at the top of the order in the first three matches.
For India, the Gabba Test marked the end of an era, with 38-year-old Ravichandran Ashwin announcing his immediate retirement from international cricket, bringing an end to a 14-year career with the national team.
Ashwin was left out of the third Test for Nitish Kumar Reddy, but the latter failed to impress, and there is expectation that Washington Sundar will be given the nod this week in hopes of adding a different dimension to Ravindra Jadeja - though there is still a chance that the visitors opt for a fourth pacer instead of two specialist spinners.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (C), Travis Head (VC), Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Mitchell Marsh, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey (Wk), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland, Sean Abbott, Jhye Richardson and Beau Webster
India squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (Wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Virat Kohli, Prasidh Krishna, Rishabh Pant (Wk), KL Rahul, Harshit Rana, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar
Series so far
Test 1 of 5: India won by 295 runs
India - 150 & 487/6d
Australia - 104 & 238
Test 2 of 5: Australia win by 10 wickets
India - 180 & 175
Australia - 337 & 19/0
Test 3 of 5: Match Drawn
Australia - 445 & 89/7d
India - 260 & 8/0
We say: Australia to win
Australia have looked the better side since winning the second Test, evidenced by India's celebrations after barely avoiding the follow-on at the Gabba, and while the hosts have yet to figure out how to deal with Bumrah, they have done very well to dominate the rest of the visitors' bowling attack.
India will have massive support in Melbourne, but we feel the Aussies will be able to withstand the pressure and take a lead into the series decider in Sydney in the New Year.
Devesh Jaganath
