Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, and Prithvi Shaw will represent India in the next Test in Adelaide. Umesh Yadav completes the trio of fast bowlers. These were the main questions India was asking two days before the match: whether to continue supporting the energetic Shaw, whether to play with a spinner and persist with the safer option of Ashwin, and which of the wicketkeepers would be selected.
Finally, the doubts were cleared when the starting eleven was announced on the eve of the day-night Test.
Shaw, who had been under pressure, was the opening batsman and showed in one of his four innings in New Zealand that he can be devastating. Despite his scores in the practice matches, continuity at the top of the order was key to selection.Similarly, the titular spinner, especially with the absence of Ravindra Jadeja due to injury and concussion, kept his place. The last time India chose not to include Ashwin in an opening match of a series was on the 2014-15 Australia tour.
While it’s reasonable to play Ashwin, this time it could have been argued against playing a spinner in the first match of the series due to the statistics of spinners in day-night Tests in Australia.
As for the wicketkeeper, India left out Pant, who has been preferred over Saha in Tests outside of Asia. The team management seems to have decided that the pink ball demands a more established wicketkeeper.
Yadav is emerging as India’s third fast bowler, replacing the injured Ishant Sharma. In addition to his experience in Tests, he impressed in the only practice match he played.India’s Line-up: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt.), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Hanuma Vihari, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
