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 and night Test, they cleared up all the confusion by naming the XI.
Shaw had been under pressure, with Shubman Gill performing better in the two tour matches.
However, Shaw was the starting opener 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 weak shots that worried.
It is understood, however, that with an established average order, India wanted continuity at the top as well and went with the starter.
As reasonable as it is to play Ashwin, this time, it could have been argued that a spinner shouldn’t be played at all 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 best spinners in test cricket, followed only slightly by Jadeja, in 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 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 hasn’t 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 experience in testing, 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. India XI: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (cap.), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Hanuma Vihari, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
