As riveting as it may sound, a Test series between India and Australia can be best summarised by a simple one-liner — apprentices turning masters, boys becoming men, and some nastiness!

The stage is set for another epic battle when the two cricketing powerhouses face off in the opener of the five-Test rubber at the Optus Stadium in Perth from Friday.

Keeping aside the mind games, expert predictions, and discussions on the forms of players of either side, the two teams will focus on the real action that could eventually decide at least one of the finalists of the next World Test Championship Final at the Lord’s in June 2025. Thus, the stakes are high for the WTC 2023 finalists, currently occupying the top two places in the current WTC standings.

Reeling from a recent bitter home debacle against New Zealand, India will look to take confidence from their adventures of the previous tour Down Under, especially after breaching the Gabbatoir in the absence of a star cast. That triumph not only ended Australia’s 32-year hegemony in Brisbane, but also injected confidence in the young brigade under Ajinkya Rahane, and more recently Test laggards West Indies earlier this year, to play to the situation rather than solely relying on the big names.

Ahead of the 2024-25 series opener in Perth, the absence of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill could perhaps feed into the recent template of overcoming adversity Down Under. A lot will thus ride on the shoulders of the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and Dhruv Jurel to set the tone.

However, a key takeaway from India’s previous tour would be that setting the tone can’t be the be-all and end-all story of a long series, especially after the visitors bounced back strongly from the ignominy of being bundled out for 36 in the first Test at Adelaide. But one can’t bank on past laurels with the hope of scripting history, as India have recorded a mere nine wins in 52 Tests played in the country. And interestingly, six of those nine came in the past two tours — 2018-19 and 2020-21.

There is no denying that some of the stalwarts of the current Indian set-up are in the twilight of their careers.

A tour of Australia can make or break careers — among the current lot, Virat Kohli was crowned as ‘King Kohli’ after his four centuries during the tour of 2014-15, while Mohammed Shami, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant attained stardom after successful trips to the country.

As such, heading into the opener in the absence of Rohit and Shubman, India will have a rejigged batting order, with Jaiswal pairing up with a new opening partner, which could see an under-fire KL Rahul return to the spot he has batted at for the bulk of his stop-start career, or prolific domestic run accumulator Abhimanyu Easwaran handed a debut cap despite a string of poor scores against Australia ‘A’.

Meanwhile, Dhruv Jurel, who scored 80 and 68 in the second game against Australia ‘A’ and showcased his affinity for playing on bouncy tracks, could fill in for Gill at No. 3. Nitish Kumar Reddy could also earn a Test cap after earning the faith of the team management, with bowling coach Morne Morkel backing the Hyderbadi seam-bowling all-rounder as the “one to look after during the series”.

This will perhaps be the series that will be decided by bowlers more than ever with Jasprit Bumrah, leading in the opening game, entrusted with the duty of setting the tone against a line-up that has been far from its best even at home in recent times. Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep are likely to be Bumrah’s partners but the lanky Prasidh Krishna and the burly Harshit Rana are also staking a claim with impressive skill sets.

In contrast, Australia will look to extend their dominance to five Test wins at the Optus Stadium and tuck into the home advantage with most of its Test mainstays still in the fray. The top order will have a slight rejig with 25-year-old uncapped Nathan McSweeney set to start his partnership with the veteran Usman Khawaja. The rest of the batting order presents familiar faces in Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, and Alex Carey followed by Pat Cummins and the tail.

Teams:

India: Jasprit Bumrah (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Washington Sundar.

Australia: Pat Cummins (C), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc.