India Defines its Starting Eleven for the Adelaide Test
Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, and Prithvi Shaw will represent India in the Adelaide Test, with Umesh Yadav completing the trio of fast bowlers. These were the main questions India considered before the test: maintaining confidence in Shaw, including a spinner and persisting with Ashwin, and which of the wicketkeepers would be selected.
Finally, on the eve of the day-night Test, the team resolved all doubts by announcing the starting eleven.
Shaw was under pressure, especially with Shubman Gill showing better performance in the two practice matches, impressing figures like Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar. However, Shaw was the starting opener and proved in one of the four innings in New Zealand that he can be devastating. He scored 0, 19, 40 and 3 in the two practice matches, but it was his loose shots that worried Gavaskar and Border. It is understood that, with a settled middle order, India was looking for continuity at the top and opted for the starter.Similarly, the titular spinner, especially with the absence of Ravindra Jadeja due to injury and concussion, kept his place.
The last time India didn’t pick Ashwin in an opening match of a series was on the 2014-15 Australia tour, a decision that was criticized for including Karn Sharma, whose lack of experience was noticeable on a pitch where Australia’s spinner, Nathan Lyon, proved to be the turning point.
While it’s reasonable to play Ashwin, on this occasion, not including a spinner in the opening match of the series might have been justified, because in day-night Tests in Australia, spinners have averaged 49 despite Lyon’s superlative average of 25 in these matches. Lyon’s success is perhaps a signal that world-class spinners have a chance to correct these statistics based on a small sample of seven Tests. There is no doubt that Ashwin and Lyon have been the top two spinners in Test cricket, followed only slightly by Jadeja, during this decade.
In the case of the wicketkeeper, India left out the regular Pant, who has been preferred to Saha in Tests outside of Asia, where most of the wicketkeeping is done standing up. It is in India where the team management believes that Saha’s superior wicketkeeping skills come into play when facing spinners. The team management seems to have decided that the pink ball does a lot and will require a more established pure wicketkeeper. And, despite Pant’s century in the SCG warm-up, he had an ordinary tour of New Zealand, scoring 60 runs in four innings. He has not played for India in any international cricket match since then.
Yadav was the favorite to be India’s third fast bowler, replacing the injured Ishant Sharma. Not only does he have Test experience, this is his fourth tour of Australia, but he also impressed in the only practice match he played, taking 3 for 48 and 1 for 14 and also scoring useful runs in the order.India’s Starting XI: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (c), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Hanuma Vihari, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
