India Declare Playing XI - Shaw, Saha to Play Adelaide Test vs Aus
India have announced their playing XI for the Test series-opener against Australia that starts on Thursday.
India have announced their playing XI for the first Test against Australia at Adelaide, starting 17 December.
Prithvi Shaw has been picked as the opener, ahead of Shubman Gill and KL Rahul with Wriddhiman Saha getting the wicket-keeper’s spot ahead of Rishabh Pant. India have also elected to go with a four-man bowling attack that comprises of R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah.
The squad was announced on Twitter, an hour after Indian captain Virat Kohli held his pre-match press conference.
Saha to Keep
Rishabh Pant and Wriddhiman Saha were both in the running for the wicket-keeper’s spot with the Kolkata stalwart getting the nod for the series-opener.
Pant had impressed with a 73-ball century in the second practice game, sharing an unbeaten 147-run partnership with Hanuma Vihari with former India captain Sunil Gavaskar also picking the young keeper ahead of Saha.
"Rishabh played in all the four Test matches two years ago and he also scored a hundred and he seemed to have got under the skin of some of the Aussie players with his chirping from behind the stumps. So I guess the team will probably look to have him," he had said.
Wriddhiman Saha however is a far more experienced player behind the stumps and with India missing some senior players in the series-opener, Virat seems to have gone with the safer bet. Saha had made a couple of ducks and a half-century in the two warm-up games he played.
Shaw to Open With Mayank
While Mayank Agarwal had one opening spot all sealed, India have decided to go with Prithvi Shaw as the second opener in Adelaide.
Agarwal in fact started his Team India career during the last tour of Australia, scoring two half-centuries in both Tests he played and averaging 65. Since then, he has played with Rohit Sharma and Prithvi Shaw at the top of the batting order with Shaw playing the games in New Zealand after Rohit was out injured. In the warm-up match against Australia A, Mayank made a patient 61 in the second innings.
The choice for the second opener was between Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill and also KL Rahul.
Shaw failed to rack up big scores in the two warm-ups, his best being a 29-ball 40 in the first innings of the second match. The 21-year-old right-handed batsman, who scored a century on Test debut in 2018 but has played only four Tests, is also coming off a poor run in the second half of Indian Premier League.
Shubman Gill was seen as the second front-runner for the opening slot after the right-hander succeeded in the second warm-up, the day-night fixture, as a No. 3 batsman, scoring 43 and 65. In the first warm-up, where he played as opener with the red ball, he got a duck and a 29.
KL Rahul, who was the vice-captain in the limited overs leg of the Australia tour, scored 76 in the second ODI and a 51 in the first T20I. In the rest of the white ball matches, Rahul scored 12, 5, 30 and 0. He opened the innings on in the T20I series with Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan being chosen at the top of the order for the ODIs. He did not play the practice games.
Australia Playing Green
Australia skipper Tim Paine confirmed earlier today that Cameron Green will make his Test debut at Adelaide for the first Test.
Speaking to media, Paine said that Green will be playing as an all-rounder and would bowl more than four overs in a spell which was the limit set for him due to workload management. Green got hit on the head during a warm-up tie against the touring Indians last Friday and had to be substituted due to concussion. His test on Tuesday, however, yielded positive results.
"I think he (Green) is pretty good to go. He obviously trained with us yesterday, woke up well today and intends to train with us today, it is all going well. Cameron Green will make his Test debut tomorrow which is great news for him, us and Australian cricket fans," said Paine on the eve of the first Test.
Paine, however, refused to divulge the playing eleven, and also the openers for the opening Test of the four-match series, although he did admit that Matthew Wade is an option. The wicketkeeper-batsman also hoped that Steve Smith would be available for the match after suffering from a sore back on Tuesday.
"Yes we have a team but we won't be releasing it unfortunately till the toss tomorrow. I know we have two people walking out to bat tomorrow. We will be keeping that in-house till tomorrow," he said.
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