Boxing Day Test: Australia Win Toss, Elect To Bat Against India In 2nd Test

Melbourne: Australia won the toss and elected to bat in the second Test match against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground here on Saturday.

The Aussies, who defeated India by eight wickets in the first Test in Adelaide after bowling them out for a paltry 36 in the second innings, have fielded an unchanged squad.

India, meanwhile, are going in with four changes. They have brought in Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj and Rishabh Pant in place of Prithvi Shaw (dropped), Virat Kohli (personal reasons), Mohammed Shami (injured) and Wriddhiman Saha (dropped).

Ajinkya Rahane will lead the side in the absence of Kohli, who has returned to India to attend the birth of his child.

Gill and Siraj are making their Test debut making this the first instance since November, 2013 when India have fielded two debutants in a match. In that 2013 Kolkata Test vs West Indies, India played Rohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami.

India are trailing the four-match series 0-1 after losing the opening day/night Test in Adelaide by eight wickets.

The iconic Boxing Day Test, second match of the series, will be India's 100th game in the traditional format against Australia.

Teams:

India: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

Australia: Tim Paine (captain), Matthew Wade, Joe Burns, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.

(With IANS/PTI Inputs)