While all eyes are on India's playing XI with experts predicting a debut to Nitish Reddy and Harshit Rana, some light needs to be thrown on Australia's line-up as well. They are yet to find a long-term replacement for David Warner who hung his boots last summer. The experiment to shift Steve Smith up the order didn't reap the expected rewards and arguably, their best batter has now moved down to his usual number four position opening up a spot at the top of the order again.
For now, Nathan McSweeney, 25, has locked to open alongside Usman Khawaja and is set for his Test debut in Perth. It is going to be a test of his temperament against the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj on a fast bouncy track at the Optus Stadium. His partner Khawaja is settled as he is doing the job for more than five years on a regular basis now.
The middle-order for Australia is mighty strong which will eventually decide the fate of the match. If the openers play out the new ball, the likes of Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh are waiting to have fun as the Kookaburra red-ball turns soft with not much movement in the air and from the surface as well. However, Australia are playing Test cricket after a huge gap of more than eight months and that could leave these players rusty, especially those who are specialists in the format.
Smith and Labuschagne haven't played much cricket apart from a few ODIs as they weren't part of the T20 World Cup squad as well. Hence, it is important for the hosts that they get into the groove quickly with not much international cricket behind them this year. Head could be a massive threat for India having hurt them in the finals of the ICC event twice last year. More than anything, the pace at which he bats tends to take the Test match away quickly from the opposition.
Alex Carey has done more than enough to seal the wicketkeeper-batter's position thanks to his excellent form in the Sheffield Shield season. He scored 452 runs in six innings this season at an average of 90.4 with two centuries, one fifty and three scores in the 40s.
The bowling attack is on expected lines with no surprises as all of them walk into the side on any given day. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood will take the new ball with Pat Cummins coming in as the first change. Nathan Lyon is the lone spinner while all eyes will be on Marsh's role as an all-rounder. He hasn't bowled much in the lead-up and played as a specialist batter in Shield matches played in Perth last month. However, he was spotted bowling in the nets in the lead-up to the Test match. It remains to be seen how much workload he will be able to handle in the longest format.
Australia's possible playing XI for Perth Test against India: Nathan McSweeney, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Mitchell Marsh, Travis Head, Alex Carey (WK), Pat Cummins (C), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
