Sydney [Australia], January 1 : Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met the Indian and Australian teams on Wednesday ahead of the fifth and final Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy between both the sides.
The final Test will be a New Year's Test starting from January 3 at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Also, the Test is a special event as it marks the 'Jane McGrath Day', the wife of legendary pacer Glenn McGrath who lost her life in a battle with cancer. "On the third day of the match venue is covered with a full sea of pink and millions of dollars are typically raised for cancer support and awareness in Australia," as per cricket.com.au.
https://x.com/AlboMP/status/1874399660250706319
During the meeting, Albanese hilariously announced the possibility of bringing a legislation to control Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who has been the lone warrior in the Indian bowling line-up with 30 wickets in four matches at an average of 12.83 with three five-wicket hauls.
"We could pass a law here that says he has to bowl left-handed or off one step. Every time he has come onto bowl has been very exciting," said the PM as quoted by Sydney Morning Herald.
Two days before the New Year's Test, Australian and Indian players gathered at the Kirribilli House for the New Year's Day reception by PM Albanese and his fiancee Jodie Haydon. The menu also featured some really tempting and mouth-watering dishes like tandoori lamb cutlets, mini lobster and prawn rolls, spinach and cheese sausage rolls, as well as fruit skewers and Zooper Doopers.
The series is 2-1 in favour of Australia and they are in a strong position to join South Africa in the ICC World Test Championship. However, if India wins the match and draws the series, not only they will retain the trophy again, but will also keep themselves alive in the WTC race, given the results of the Australia-Sri Lanka series next year go their way.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal.