It is less than a week to go for India and Australia to lock horns in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which will kick start on February 9 in Nagpur. India currently hold the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and they have won the last three Test series between the two teams – twice in Australia and in 2017 in India.
There is a lot more at stake this time: the World Test Championship final. While India needs to win the series, Australia needs to avoid a 4-0 whitewash. However, with a number of senior players in the last phase of their careers, this series is a big part of their legacies.
India’s squad for the first Test against Australia:
Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav
Here is India’s predicted XI for the first Test against Australia in Nagpur:
Top five: Rohit Sharma(C), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill
Barring any late injury or a debut to Suryakumar Yadav, these are most likely to be the five specialist batters in the first Test against Australia. The order of Rahul and Gill may be switched through.
With Shreyas Iyer ruled out from the first Test, India has the opportunity to shift Gill to the middle-order spot and see how he goes there because both he and Rahul are unlikely to be dropped given Gill’s terrific form (Gill recorded his maiden Test ton in Bangladesh) and Rahul, apart from being the vice-captain, is the senior, incumbent opener.
It will be interesting to see what will India do if and when Iyer is fit for the second Test or after that.
For the senior trio of Sharma, Pujara, and Kohli, this series is another big chapter in their careers, especially for Sharma.
Wicket-keeper: KS Bharat
Ishan Kishan’s forgettable ODI and T20I series against New Zealand seem to have made the decision easier for the team management to hand a Test cap to KS Bharat as the wicket-keeper for at least the first two Tests against Australia.
Kishan didn’t go past 20 in any of the 6 knocks against New Zealand. Yes, though it was in white-ball cricket, but Kishan looked clueless on the spin-friendly pitches in Ranchi and Lucknow, and similar – or even more difficult – challenge awaits in the Test series, especially in the first Test in Nagpur.
There are going to be coffins laid out for the batters in Nagpur. In the last Ranji game in Nagpur, Vidarbha defended 72 runs in the last innings, bowling Gujarat out for only 54.
In that case, India would want to field someone who’s good in confidence – KS Bharat averaged 41 in 5 Ranji innings this season with two half-centuries – over Kishan. Bharat is also, without any doubt, a better and more trusted keeper than Kishan.
All-rounders: Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin
Jadeja has been declared fit for the Nagpur Test, and both he and Ashwin will be licking their lips to wreak havoc over the Aussie batters as they had done in the last two home series in 2013 and 2017.
In India, Ashwin has taken 50 wickets vs Australia in 8 Tests while Jadeja has 49 in 8 Tests.
Bowlers: Kuldeep Yadav/Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
India will have a big decision to make: choose one between Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel. This call will make the management scratch their head. Axar Patel has been stunning in his Test career so far: 47 wickets in 8 Tests – 6 in India and 2 in Bangladesh – at an astonishing average of 14! He’s taken a bagful of wickets with his straighter deliveries (that didn’t turn) and that has been his major threatening weapon. Plus, he adds batting depth.
Kuldeep picked a five-fer and a three-fer in his last Test, in Chattogram, and bagged the Player of the Match award. Yet faced the axe in the second Test when India included an extra pacer and Axar was retained. However, now with Jadeja back in the XI, Axar might face the axe; and Kuldeep brings in the variety of a wrist-spinner too. Excluding Axar would still be a tough call to make, because Axar has simply looked unplayable in Indian conditions – 39 wickets in 6 Tests at 12.
Shami and Siraj are likely to be the two pacers, with Siraj, the wobble ball specialist, likely to pip over Umesh, the subcontinent specialist. However, if India decides to go with only one pacer – which is possible because of the spin-friendly pitch in Nagpur – then both Axar and Kuldeep could feature in the same XI.
India’s predicted XI for the first Test vs Australia in Nagpur:
Rohit Sharma(C), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav/Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
