Everytime a Sydney Test draws near, there is talk of playing two spinners. A lot of that theory is based on the Sydney pitch that used to turn square in the mid 80s and in the 90s. Move forward a couple of decades and the green tinge that appears on the pitch still seems like a mirage for both teams as they contemplate the option of playing two spinners.

There are three spinners in the 13 man squad that India named on the eve of the match - Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin. Reality is that India will only play one of them, but Australia too have taken history in their stride by including Marnus Labuschagne as a back-up spinner to Nathan Lyon.