Team India will be in action for one final time in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) cycle in order to make it to the final. India will be up against Australia in the fifth and final Test in Sydney starting Friday, January 3 as they look to seal the series 2-2 and stay in contention for an outside chance of making it to the final. India will be ruing a missed chance to draw at the MCG as going into the post-tea session with seven wickets in hand, the visitors would have fancied themselves to hold the Aussies but it wasn't to be.
Australia have already announced their playing XI for the New Year's Test with Beau Webster coming into the playing XI for the out-of-form Mitchell Marsh while India are likely to drop a bombshell in terms of team selection. Gabba and Boxing Day Test at the MCG were rain-marred but the forecast looks better for the start of the Sydney Test.
As per Accuweather, there is an overnight shower on the radar but the seven hours on the matchday should be good to go. There is a shower predicted at 11 PM local on Thursday, January 2 (5:30 PM IST) but the forecast turns cloudy for the next six hours. The probability of precipitation (PoP) rises to 56 per cent and 51 per cent at 6 and 7 AM local time (1:30 AM IST) on Friday morning, however, that is unlikely to affect the game.
An hour or so before the scheduled start of the match the forecast says 'mostly cloudy' with the probability of precipitation being just three per cent. The showers are not on the radar for the rest of the day with the PoP reducing to zero per cent for the last 3-4 hour period during the matchtime. So as per the forecast, there is a possibility of uninterrupted play for the full day on the opening day of New Year's Test.
