india australia final test match: Australia opt to bat against India in final Test with PM Modi and Oz prime minister in attendance

Ahmedabad: Australian captain Steve Smith won the toss and opted to bat against India in the series-deciding fourth Test here on Thursday. Before the toss, the two captains received the Test cap from their respective prime ministers, Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese.

BCCI president Roger Binny felicitated Australia’s Prime minister Albanese, while the secretary Jay Shah felicitated PM Modi.

Modi and Albanese also did a lap of honour across the ground to mark the occasion of 75 years of friendship between India and Australia.

The round of the playing turf on a golf car by the two dignitaries was applauded by the thousands of spectators who had already taken their seats in the world’s largest cricket stadium.Albanese arrived here on Wednesday and attended some programmes, while Modi reached the state late last night.

Australia remained unchanged, while Mohammed Shami replaced Mohammed Siraj in the Indian team.

Teams:

India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, KS Bharat (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami

Australia: Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith (capt), Peter Handscomb, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Todd Murphy, Nathan Lyon, Matthew Kuhnemann.