The Australian team arrived in India for the four-test match series (Border Gavaskar Trophy). The first test match will be played on 9th February in Nagpur. Australia last won the Border Gavaskar Trophy in 2004 under the captaincy of Adam Gilchrist. And the recent form of Kangaroos was overwhelming with the red ball under Pat Cummins’s captaincy; this time, they will try to end the drought of 19 years.
For the Indian team, this series is really important for the World test championship, and they will try their win the series. But they have a bundle of bad news that their premium pacer Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t fit yet.
Currently, India’s best spin batter Shreyas Iyer is out of the team due to a back injury. Veteran wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant is recovering from a car accident and hasn’t been named in the squad. Despite all the bad news, the good news for the Indian team is that their premier all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has passed the fitness test before the Nagpur Test, and fully fit, will play the first test match against the kangaroos in Nagpur.
Let’s discuss the playing XI of the Indians for the first test match.
In the opening, we will see skipper Rohit Sharma, Vice-captain KL Rahul, and veteran Cheteshwar Pujara bat at no. 3, and the run-machine Virat Kohli will definitely bat at no.4.
Now the big discussion is that who will take the place of the injured Shreyas Iyer. Shubhman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav are available for this spot. But the Indian team will probably go with Suryakumar Yadav because of his blazing form, and he also bat down in the order in ODIs. However, in the recent test series, Shubhman Gill was outstanding and scored in a century, but this time he must wait to make a place in the playing XI.
KS Bharat will debut in red-ball cricket because he has been moving with the team for a long time, and this time, he will get a chance. R. Jadeja is fit now, so he and R. Ashwin will surely be the main spinner of the first test match. The big question arises for the third spinner because Nagpur will be a turning wicket, and the Indian team will go with 3 spinners. Kuldeep Yadav will be the third spinner because of his recent form in every format; although Axar Patel is good with the red ball, if Jadeja is available, Axar must wait. M. Siraj and M. Shami will be the two premier pacers for the Indian side.
Playing XI of Indian team:- Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.
