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

Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, and Prithvi Shaw have been selected to represent India in the Adelaide Test. Umesh Yadav completes the trio of fast bowlers. These were the main questions India was considering two days before the match: whether to maintain confidence in the energetic Shaw, whether to include a spin bowler and persist with the safer option of Ashwin, and which of the wicketkeepers should play. On the eve of the day-night Test, they cleared up all doubts by naming the XI. Shaw, who had been under pressure, saw Shubman Gill perform better in the two matches of the tour. However, Shaw was the starting opener and proved in a four-run innings in New Zealand that he can be destructive. He scored 0, 19, 40 and 3 in the two matches of the tour, but more than the scores were his loose shots that worried.

Similarly, the titular spin bowler, especially with the absence of Ravindra Jadeja due to injury and concussion, kept his place. The last time India chose not to field Ashwin in an opening match of a series was on the 2014-15 Australia tour, a decision that was criticized for the inclusion of Karn Sharma, whose lack of experience became evident on a field where Australia’s spin bowler, Nathan Lyon, proved to be a decisive factor.

While it’s reasonable to play Ashwin, on this occasion, one could have argued against playing a spin bowler in the series opener because, in day-night Tests in Australia, spin bowlers have averaged 49 despite Lyon’s superlative average of 25 in these matches. Lyon’s success is perhaps a signal that world-class spin bowlers have a chance to correct these statistics based on a small sample of seven matches.

In the case of the wicketkeeper, 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 spin bowlers. 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 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 down the order.India’s Line-up: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (captain), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Hanuma Vihari, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah