Australia vs India 2018-19: 3 Reasons why India should win the Adelaide Test

India's tour of Australia is one of the most anticipated series of the year. With both the teams sharing the honours in the T20 series, the focus will now shift to the much anticipated 4 match Test series which kicks off from December 6 at the Adelaide Oval.

India will start off as favourites going ahead into the Test series considering their solidity in all the areas. On the other hand, Australia will start off as underdogs but they can never be counted off considering their impeccable record at home. Also, they have never lost a Test series against India at home.

When it comes to head to head record in Australia, India and Australia have clashed against each other 44 times, wherein Australia have won 28 matches and lost only 5.

India have a great chance to win the first Test at Adelaide and set the tone for the series. Let us look at three reasons why India should win the first Test match at Adelaide.

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#1 Inexperienced Australia side playing at home

Australia will play their first Test at home after the ball-tampering saga in 2017

Steve Smith, Cameron Bancroft and David Warner were banned from International Cricket after the ball-tampering saga that happened in a Test Match against South Africa last year. Even since this incident has happened, Australia never won a Test match.

This will be the first time Australia will be playing at home after the incident and they start off as underdogs. With no David Warner and Steve Smith in the side, Australia will step on as an inexperienced side and will be under huge pressure to perform at home and against a tough opposition like India.

In the batting department, apart from Usman Khawaja and the Marsh brothers, all the other batsmen are relatively inexperienced at Test level.

The Indian batsmen would need to be careful against Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc. If the batsmen see off both these bowlers and put the runs on the board, the Indian pace bttery is capable enough to win the match for India.

#2 Kohli at Adelaide

Kohli has scored 3 tons in 2 test matches at the Adelaide Oval

Virat Kohli has already announced his arrival in Australia with a blistering half-century in the third T20 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. With the first Test to be played at Adelaide, the Indian skipper will be itching to go out and bat.

Not to forget, Virat Kohli has a tremendous record at the Adelaide Oval. In the two Test matches he played here, Virat has scored 3 centuries.

The current India skipper first played here in 2012, where scored a fighting 116 under tough circumstances. His ton was the only century for an Indian from the entire Test series. Despite his ton, India went on to lose the match by an innings and 298 runs.

The second visit to Adelaide was in 2014 and this time it was a much established Virat Kohli. He scored a scintillating 115 in the first innings that kept India in the game and followed it up with a sensational 141 in the second innings that almost won the game for India.

India fell short of 48 runs but the innings played by Virat Kohli is regarded as one of the best Test knocks played an Indian in Australia.

This time around the Indian skipper would want to go one step ahead and help India win the Test match.

#3 Potent Bowling Line-up

The pace bowlers will play a key role in the Test series

Indian bowling attack has improved leaps and bounds over the years. The pace battery aided by spin has performed very well in both home and abroad. This was very much evident in the recently concluded series against England in England.

The pace attack of Bhuvneswar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Jaspirit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav have all performed consistently well and picked up 20 wickets in Test matches quite regularly.

Even the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, who had a terrible record in overseas, performed well in both South Africa and England tours earlier this year. This should give him the much-needed confidence going into the first Test at Adelaide.

With the pitch at Adelaide assisting the spinners on the fourth and fifth day, it would be interesting to see who gets picked between Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav.

If the Indian bowlers do well, they should be able to pick up 20 wickets against the inexperienced Australian batsmen and go 1-0 up in Adelaide.