Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, and Prithvi Shaw have been selected to represent India in the Adelaide Test. Umesh Yadav will complete the trio of fast bowlers. Two days before the start of the Test, India had several key questions to resolve: maintain confidence in Shaw, decide whether to play with a spinner and opt for the safety of Ashwin, and which of the wicketkeepers would be chosen. Finally, on the eve of the Test, the team resolved these doubts, announcing their lineup. Shaw, who had been under pressure, as Shubman Gill showed better performance in the two practice matches, impressing figures like Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar. However, Shaw, as a starting opener, showed in one of his four innings in New Zealand that he can be a very dangerous player.
Despite their scores of 0, 19, 40 and 3 in the two practice matches, it was their loose shots that worried Gavaskar and Border. It is understood that, with a settled middle order, India were looking for continuity at the top and opted for the incumbent.
While it’s reasonable to play Ashwin, on this occasion, an argument could have been made against playing a spinner in the opening match of the series, as in day 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 top two spinners in Test cricket, closely followed by Jadeja, during this decade.
In the case of the wicketkeeper, India left out Pant, who has been preferred over Saha in Tests outside of Asia, where most of the wicketkeeping is done standing back. It is in India where the team’s coaching staff believes that Saha’s superior wicketkeeping skills come into play when facing spinners. The team’s coaching staff seems to have decided that the pink ball does a lot and will require a more established pure wicketkeeper. 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 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.India Lineup:- Mayank Agarwal
- Prithvi Shaw
- Cheteshwar Pujara
- Virat Kohli (c)
- Ajinkya Rahane
- Hanuma Vihari
- Wriddhiman Saha (wk)
- R Ashwin
- Umesh Yadav
- Mohammed Shami
- Jasprit Bumrah
