Australia vs India 2018: 3 Indians players who returned to form in the practice game

The grueling four-match Test series between hosts Australia and India will begin at the Adelaide Oval on Dember 6. Though Tim Paine's men will be without the services of two of their star batsmen Steve Smith and David Warner, the Indians will be aware of the Aussies' Test domination at home.

India will be looking to win their first ever Test series in Australia with many of their players in great form especially skipper Kohli who is currently the highest run-getter of 2018 with 1063 runs.

Team India confronted the Cricket Australia XI in a one-off four-day practice game the SCG from November 28- December 1. The drawn game proved to be a much-needed match practice for the Indians whose batsmen made most of the opportunity.

The Cricket Australia XI players were absolutely sensational in all three departments giving the Indians a tough fight. let us now look at three Indian players who made much use of the practice-game to get back into the form before the Tests.

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KL Rahul

KL Rahul is starting to find his groove

In 18 Test innings so far this year, Rahul has scored 420 runs at an average of 24.70 with his highest score being 149. The Karnataka batsman made just 30 runs in four innings against the Proteas during India's three-match Test series against Faf du Plessis's men earlier this year.

But he came back stronger after that forgettable Test series with a splendid display of batting in the 2018 IPL for Kings XI Punjab, after being bought for a whopping INR 11 crore at the season eleven auctions. Though Punjab failed to qualify for the playoffs, Rahul made 659 runs in 14 matches. In spite of scoring a half-century against Afghanistan (54 of 64) in the one-off Test match at Bengaluru, the Mangalore-born batsman looked out of sorts during the England tour.

Rahul, who played all the five Test matches failed with the bat on almost every occasion except the final innings of the fifth test at the Oval. Apart from scoring 149 off 224 balls, he shared a crucial partnership with Rishabh Pant that could have almost won the Test match for India in London.

Excluding that innings, Rahul scored 150 runs in nine innings during the five-match series which the hosts won 4-1. Failure in the two Tests against a pretty inexperienced West Indies side at home (37 runs in three innings) further exposed his poor outing with the bat.

After a poor outing in the T20 series against West Indies and Australia recently, there were many criticisms targeted at Rahul ahead of the Test series against the Aussies. But he brushed aside all those and came up with an excellent display of cricket in the second innings of the practice game against Cricket Australia XI scoring 62 off 98 balls that included eight fours and a six.

Though he failed in the first innings (3 off 18), Rahul finally found his touch ahead of the crucial Test series in the next innings. The drawn game served as a good match practice for Rahul who scored 633 runs in 14 innings for Team India last year. The 26-year-old will be brimming with confidence when he steps into the Adelaide Oval on December 6 after that knock at the SCG.

Murali Vijay

Murali Vijay looks set to return to the starting XI

The Tamil Nadu batsman has amassed 233 runs at an average of 21.18 in eleven innings so far this year with his highest score being 105. For a batsman who has scored 520, 550 and 522 runs in the last three years, this year is nothing short of a disappointment. Apart from the century, he scored at Bengaluru against Test newbies Afghanistan, Vijay hasn't performed well at the top with his second highest score being 46 (126) made at Centurion against the Proteas.

Though he did not bat in the first innings during the recently concluded four-day practice game against Cricket Australia XI, he scored an astonishing century in the second innings of the drawn game. Vijay made a quickfire 129 off 132 balls that included 16 fours and five sixes. The opener was at his very best scoring 26 runs off one over to reach his century in style. Watch out for Vijay's blitzkrieg at Adelaide now that he is back to his belligerent best.

Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma will be looking to make it count

Every Indian cricket fan's dream is to witness Rohit Sharma replicating his phenomenal limited-overs success in Test cricket. Sadly, that hasn't been the case so far. Though the Mumbaikar started off his Test journey on an excellent note with a sublime 177 off 301 balls at the Eden Gardens during Sachin Tendulkar's farewell series against West Indies, his red-ball career did not really take off unlike many expected.

So far, Rohit has scored 1479 runs in 25 Test matches at an average of 39.97. In the four innings, he has played this year the Hitman has scored 78 runs at an average of 19.50.

He was a part of the Indian Test squad for the three-match series against the Proteas earlier this year but was dropped for subsequent Test series due to his poor outing in South Africa. Now that he is back in the Test side expectations were higher than ever. But he got back into the Test groove by scoring a solid 40 off 55 that included five boundaries and a maximum.

He looked comfortable in the middle and there were no signs of lack of confidence (in longer formats). With Prithvi Shaw ruled out of Adelaide Test, Rohit will be looking to make a mark after getting into the right frame of mind to encounter the Aussies in the ultimate format of the game.