The Men in Blue are already faced with a few pressing concerns that could see the selectors take some interesting calls.
There has been a lot of discussion surrounding what could be the India playing XI for the upcoming first of the five-match Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT), slated to start on November 22 in Perth.
The Men in Blue are already faced with a few pressing concerns that could see the selectors take some interesting calls.
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With skipper Rohit Sharma and young batter Shubman Gill expected to miss the first, it is expected that the Indian management will ask KL Rahul to open the batting alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal to address the top-order void. Notably, there was an injury scare to Rahul after being hit on the elbow by Prasidh Krishna during the recent intra-squad match simulation but has now been declared fit to play.
Former India captain and star batter Virat Kohli can promote himself to the No.3 position which would allow the management to play Dhruv Jurel as a pure batter while Rishabh Pant dons the wicketkeeper gloves as usual. Jurel also had a good outing against Australia A in the only Test he played, managing scores of 80 and 68.
India could also see two new debutants in the side – Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana. The pitch at Perth’s Optus Stadium is expected to provide good bounce and carry, making Rana and Reddy ideal choices to bolster the fast-bowling attack.
The inclusion of Nitish in the playing XI is primarily driven by the team’s plan to utilize him as a fifth seamer.
Additionally, with India’s premier all-rounder Hardik Pandya absent from the Test squad to manage his workload, Reddy stands as the sole pace-bowling all-rounder available for the five-match Test series.
Jadeja will most probably get the nod over Ravichandran Ashwin as the only spinning all-rounder in the team followed by Akash Deep, stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah and Siraj completing the rest of the bowling attack.
There are also rumours circulating that India are considering Devdutt Padikkal at No.3, with the batter reportedly asked to stay back after the India A series in Australia.
KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah (c), Mohammed Siraj.
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