Welcome to the coverage of the first Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2025 between Australia and India at the Optus Stadium in Perth on Friday.
India, still reeling from a bitter home debacle, will be under tremendous pressure when they face an equally circumspect Australia in a battle of two out-of-form batting units in the opening Test.
In 2018-19 and 2020-21, India proved that lightning can strike twice with back to back series wins but the manner in which New Zealand came, saw and decimated them on home turf recently has certainly hit the psyche of an otherwise world-class unit.
A record third World Test Championship final entry that looked imminent before the start of the New Zealand series, now seems like a distant dream. A 4-0 score-line has become an absolute necessity for India to avoid relying on other teams.
Australia's mouthwatering clash with India sees the two behemoths of the modern game go head-to-head in five Tests over six weeks with the tourists eyeing a third straight series triumph Down Under.
Only England in the 1880s, West Indies a century later and South Africa more recently have achieved that feat, and to do so against the current holders of the World Test Championship title would be a considerable accomplishment.
Home and away, India have won the last four Test series between the two countries but recent signs of frailty in a team in transition has had alarm bells ringing from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
Captain Rohit will miss the series opener, having decided to put family first and stay at home for the birth of his second child, while Shubman Gill is likely to miss after fracturing a thumb
The questions over India's opening partnership echo a debate that has engrossed Australia since Cameron Green was ruled out of the series with a back injury in mid-October.
Once it was confirmed that Steve Smith would be dropping down the order to replace the injured all-rounder at number four, every possible candidate to partner Usman Khawaja has been proposed, analysed and scrutinised.
Nathan McSweeney will therefore open for only the second time in his career when he makes his Test debut at Perth Stadium this week.
McSweeney is the only player under the age of 30 likely to start the first Test but Smith, Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne remain in the top 10 of the test batting rankings.
Paceman Josh Hazlewood and his skipper Pat Cummins occupy spots in the top 10 of the bowlers' standings along with spinner Nathan Lyon, while left-arm quick Mitchell Starc is 11th.
A quick surface reminiscent of the old WACA ground has been promised at Perth Stadium, while Australia will be confident of keeping intact their 100% record in day-night matches at the Adelaide Oval in match two.
Led by Jasprit Bumrah, India's pace unit have shown they can have an impact on Australian tracks and, of course, are backed up by the world's best slow-bowling all-rounders in Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.