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With the history in their sight, the Indian team is geared up for the fourth and final Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground that gets underway tomorrow.
After winning the first Test in Adelaide, India were given a royal beating in Perth by the hosts but they bounced back strongly and beat the Aussies convincingly in the third Test at the MCG. With this win, Virat Kohli's men go 2-1 up and cannot lose the lose the series even if they end up tasting defeat in Sydney. They have also retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on the virtue of winning two out of the four Tests.
Going into the fourth Test, one would have expected skipper Virat Kohli to go with an unchanged playing XI. But, Rohit Sharma had to fly back home as his wife Ritika Sajdeh gave birth to their daughter last week and the right-hander has been given the permission to be with his wife and new-born daughter.
Also read: India's predicted XI for the final Test
In his absence, India are forced to make at least one change to the playing XI. R Ashwin, who failed the fitness test earlier today and was ruled out of the Test, has been surprisingly included in the 13 which also includes KL Rahul, who was dropped from the team after the second Test, Umesh Yadav and Kuldeep Yadav.
Ishant Sharma, who has done a pretty good job so far in the series, has been left out after experiencing some discomfort in his left rib-cage. While he is being currently assessed by the team management, Umesh Yadav takes his spot in the 13-member lineup.
Also read: R Ashwin fails fitness test; to miss the fourth Test
The team management have said that a call on Ashwin's availability will be taken on the morning of the match.
India's 13-man squad for the fourth Test: Hanuma Vihari, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (WK), KL Rahul, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami.
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