Team India have plenty to think about their playing XI ahead of the first Test against Australia in the four-match series at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur beginning on Thursday (February 9). Injuries to Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer, means a couple of slots have opened up in the Indian side and there are three candidates for the two slots now.


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav will be vying for these two positions in the line-up. KL Rahul is coming back to the side after his marriage to Bollywood star Athiya Shetty last month after skipping the limited-overs series against the New Zealand.


Shubman Gill is the man-in-form and some say the heir-apparent to former India captain Virat Kohli in the middle-order. Gill can either open the batting with his captain Rohit Sharma or slot down the middle-order.



If India decide to play KL Rahul in this match, then it will be match-up between Gill and Suryakumar Yadav for the middle-order slot. In the absence of Pant, India need an aggressive batter in the middle-order and could look at world No. 1 T20 batter SKY for this purpose. However, unlike Gill, Suryakumar Yadav is yet to make his Test debut so far.


In the bowling department, India will definitely go into this match with three spinners. While Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin will be the first-choice spinners, it will be toss up between all-rounder Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav for the third spinner’s position.


Australia, on the other hand, will have to think about the second spinner to partner Nathan Lyon in this game. It will be a toss up between all-rounder Ashton Agar and leg-spinner Todd Murphy.


India vs Australia 1st Test Predicted Playing XI


India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill/KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Shubman Gill/Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel/Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj


Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar/Todd Murphy, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland