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 completes the trio of fast bowlers. These were the main questions India was considering two days before the Test: whether to continue backing the talented Shaw, whether to play with 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 tour matches, 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 matches 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 also wanted continuity at the top and opted for the incumbent.
As reasonable as it is to play Ashwin, this time, it could have been argued not to play a spinner at all in the opening match of the series because in day-night Tests in Australia, spinners have averaged 49 despite Lyon’s superior 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.
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 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 in the lower order.India XI: 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
