India is playing the first Test match of the four-match test series under Border-Gavaskar trophy at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur. In this match India made some major changes and a couple of players made their Test debut.
The wicketkeeper batter from Andhra Pradesh KS Bharat and no.1 T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav are making their Test debut. However, fans are wondering why in-form Shubman Gill, Kuldeep Yadav and Shreyas Iyer did not find a place in the playing XI.
Talking about Gill, he was part of the Indian team in the previous tour of Bangladesh, where he even reached his first Test century. India chose to start with Rohit and KL Rahul, the reason is both captain Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul are back in the lineup now.
Shreyas Iyer is suffering from his back issue. The same back issue that restricted Shreyas from playing in the white-ball series against New Zealand also stopped him from playing in the opening Test against Australia.
Apart from Iyer and Gill, Kuldeep Yadav is another player who is not the part of this playing XI.
Before the first Test, there were rumours that India might use all four of its frontline spinners, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep, because the Nagpur track was anticipated to have a lot of turn. However, it did not happen.
However, the hosts only used three spinners and two pacers. In contrast to Ashwin and Jadeja, who were the obvious picks for the playing XI, Axar patel was chosen by India as the third spinner ahead of Kuldeep.
Indian Playing XI For 1st Test Against Australia:
India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj