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.
The main questions India faced before the test were: whether to maintain confidence in the promising Shaw, whether to play with a spinner and persist with the safer option of Ashwin, and which of the wicketkeepers to choose. On the eve of the day-night test, the team resolved the doubts by announcing the starting eleven.
Shaw, who had been under pressure, as Shubman Gill performed better in the two practice matches, impressing figures like Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar, who gave their opinion on India’s starting eleven. However, Shaw, the opening batsman, showed in one of his four innings in New Zealand that he can be destructive. Although his scores in the two practice matches were low, it was his imprecise shots that worried Gavaskar and Border.
Similarly, the team’s titular spinner, especially in the absence of Ravindra Jadeja due to injury and concussion, retained his place. The last time India chose not to include Ashwin in an opening match of a series was on the 2014-15 Australia tour, a decision that was criticized for giving opportunities to Karn Sharma, whose lack of experience was noticeable on a field where Australia’s spinner, Nathan Lyon, proved to be decisive.
While it is reasonable to play Ashwin, not including any spinner in the opening match of the series this time might have been justified, as in day-night 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 a chance 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 the regular Pant, who has been preferred to Saha in tests outside of Asia, where most of the wicketkeeping is done standing up. The team’s coaching staff believes that Saha’s superior wicketkeeping skills come into play when facing spinners. The team seems to have decided that the pink ball demands more 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 yet played for India in any international match since then.
Yadav was the front-runner 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 practice 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 (capt.), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Hanuma Vihari, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
