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

India Reveals Its XI for the Adelaide Test

Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, and Prithvi Shaw will represent India in the Adelaide Test. Umesh Yadav will be the third fast bowler. These were the main questions India contemplated 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 resolved all the confusion by naming the XI. Shaw had been under pressure, with Shubman Gill performing better in the two matches of the tour. However, Shaw was the starting opener and proved in a four-inning in New Zealand that he can be destructive. Despite scoring 0, 19, 40 and 3 in the two matches of the tour, it was his loose shots that were worrying. It is understood, however, that with a medium order established, India also wanted continuity at the top and went with the regular starter.

Similarly, the Test’s titular spinner, especially with the absence of Ravindra Jadeja due to injury and concussion, kept his place. The last time India chose not to play Ashwin in an opening match of the series was on the 2014-15 Australia tour. Reasonable as it is to play Ashwin, this time, it could have been argued that a spinner should not be played in the opening 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. There is no doubt that Ashwin and Lyon have been the two leading spinners in Test cricket, followed only slightly by Jadeja, during this decade. 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 back. It is in India where the team management believes that Saha’s superior wicketkeeping skills come into play when standing up to the spinners.

The management team 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 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.India 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.