Only four days after registering a historic win at Melbourne, India will take on Australia at Sydney in the fourth Test match beginning on Thursday, January 3.

When does the match start and how to watch it live

The fourth Test between Australia and India will start at 10:30 am local time, 5 am IST and 11:30 pm BST (January 2).

Sony Six and Sony Ten 3 will provide live television coverage of the match in India, in English and Hindi, respectively. Live stream of the match will be available on Sony Liv and Jio TV.

4th Test preview

Virat Kohli India Cricket Team
Team India after their historic win at Melbourne.Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

India and Australia go into the final Test match with polar opposite moods and form. While India will be extremely confident after their convincing victory at Melbourne, Australia has a lot of issues to address before the match begins.

Australian coach Justin Langer has already asked the curators at Sydney to not provide a "flat" wicket as his team looks to save the series in the final Test match being 2-1 down. If India does manage to avoid defeat at Sydney, they will win a Test series in Australia for the first time in history.

The pitch at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is expected to be dry which means the spinners will have a big role to play. Considering the 22 yards on offer, the home side has drafted in batting all-rounder Marnus Labuschagne. The 24-year-old is two Test matches old and can bowl some useful leg spin to assist Nathan Lyon.

India will be without Rohit Sharma and thus Ravi Ashwin can come in to bolster the spin attack of the visitors. Virat Kohli's men head into the match with immense confidence but will have to make sure that the batsmen do not disappoint.

The Indian bowlers have been consistently outstanding throughout 2018, especially the pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma. Thus, the batsmen have to make sure they provide the bowlers with able support as whenever they have, India has won Test matches abroad.

 
Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli was the master of all he surveyed at MCG.Michael Dodge/Getty Images

The Australian bowlers have also been very good but their batting has collapsed time and again. Thus, as it has been throughout the summer, this Test match will be won by the team that bats better.

Read: Probable Playing XIs

Global TV listings

  • Australia: Fox Sports
  • UK: Sky Sports Cricket
  • South Africa: SuperSport
  • USA: Willow TV
  • Canada: ATN Cricket Plus (Asian Television Network)
  • Bangladesh: Gazi TV (GTV)