India drops captain Sharma and will bat first in decisive fifth Test against Australia at SCG

SYDNEY (AP) — India won the toss and elected to bat first in the decisive fifth and final Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.

Australia leads the series 2-1 and must avoid defeat to regain the Border-Gavaskar trophy for the first time since 2014-15. A win for India and a series tied 2-2 would allow the visitors to retain the trophy for a record fifth consecutive time.

Intense speculation that captain Rohit Sharma would be ruled out of the final Test was confirmed shortly before the match, with Jasprit Bumrah taking the reins. Bumrah captained India to their only win of the series in the first Test in Perth and has been the standout player of the series with 30 victims at an average of 12.83.

The 44-Test seamer is the only player in Test history with at least 200 wickets and a bowling average of less than 20 (203 at 19.42).

With scores of 3, 6, 10, 3 and 9 at an average of 6.2 for the series, Sharma has had a miserable tour since returning to the team for the second Test after missing India’s first complete victory in Perth for paternity leave. .

Sharma was replaced in the Indian batting line-up by the retired Shubman Gill.

Gill, 25, played well in Adelaide during his 31st and 28th before missing out in Brisbane and then again in Melbourne.

Prasidh Krishna also replaces seamer Akash Deep, who is out with back stiffness after playing 43 overs in Melbourne.

Australia made a change to their team that ensured a dramatic 184 run victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Monday to take a 2-1 series lead with all-rounder Mitch Marsh falling for Beau Webster to make his Test debut.

Webster has averaged 57.1 in first-class cricket since March 2022, and also took 81 wickets at 31.7 for his Tasmanian state team.

Fast bowler Mitchell Starc was also named despite suffering rib pain during the final days of the Boxing Day Test.

Starc, 34, will line up with captain Pat Cummins, Scott Boland and Nathan Lyon in Australia’s bowling attack on a green-looking pitch under overcast skies on Friday in Sydney.

A victory for Australia at the SCG would book the team’s place in a second consecutive World Test Championship final. Australia beat India in the 2023 decider.

South Africa became the first team to qualify for the WTC final at Lord’s in June win a dramatic home match against Pakistan last weekend.

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Lineups:

Australia: Sam Konstas, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (captain), Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland.

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.