India defines its XI for the Adelaide Test: Shaw, Ashwin, and Saha starters

India Defines its XI for the Adelaide Test

Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, and Prithvi Shaw have been selected to represent India in the Adelaide Test. Umesh Yadav will be the third fast bowler. These were the main questions India was contemplating two days before the Test: whether to continue backing the flashy Shaw, whether to play a spinner and persist with the safer option of Ashwin, and which of the wicketkeepers to play. On the eve of the day-night Test, they cleared up all the confusion by naming the XI. Shaw had been under pressure as Shubman Gill performed better in the two tour games, impressing figures like Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar. However, Shaw was the opening batsman and proved in a four-inning stint in New Zealand that he can be destructive. He scored 0, 19, 40 and 3 in the two games of the tour, but more than the scores it was his loose shots that worried Gavaskar and Border. It is understood, however, that with a settled middle order, India wanted continuity at the top as well and opted for the incumbent.

India announced their XI a day before the Adelaide Test

Similarly, the Test’s titular spinner, especially with Ravindra Jadeja’s absence due to injury and concussion, kept his place. The last time India chose against Ashwin in a series opener was on the 2014-15 Australia tour, a move that was criticized for the inclusion of Karn Sharma, whose lack of experience showed on a pitch where Australia’s spinner, Nathan Lyon, proved to be a game-changer.

As reasonable as it is to play Ashwin, this time, it could have been argued that no spinner should be played at all in the first match of the series 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 sign that world-class spinners have the opportunity to correct these statistics based on a small sample of seven Tests. There is no doubt that Ashwin and Lyon have been the two leading spinners in Test cricket, followed only a little by Jadeja, during this decade.

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India Defines its XI for the Adelaide Test India XI:

In the case of the wicketkeeper, however, India dropped the incumbent 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 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 yet played for India in any international cricket 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 warm-up match he played, taking 3 for 48 and 1 for 14 and also scoring useful runs in the order.