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Rotating Pacers, Second Opener: Questions India Face Ahead of ODIs

Most of the team pick themselves but injuries and the length of the tour will play a crucial role in the selection.

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Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s absences, at different stages, from India’s tour of Australia have been the talk of town in recent weeks. Both opening the door for another player to step up and give the think tank a happy headache.

Rohit isn’t available for the six limited overs games, which means Shikhar Dhawan will walk out to bat with a new partner and similarly Kohli’s absence in the final three Tests opens up a discussion regarding the crucial number 4 slot.

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For Ravi Shastri and co, up first is the three-match ODI series starting off at Sydney. We take a look at some of the crucial decisions that the Indian think tank will have to work out.

Most of the Virat Kohli-led side pick themselves but injuries and the length of the tour will play a very crucial role in the selection processes. However, India are in no hurry to fix upon combinations immediately for ODI cricket as the next World Cup is in 2023.

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Dhawan and Who?

Shikhar Dhawan is coming off a good IPL with the Delhi Capitals and will no doubt look to continue the rich vein of form Down Under. Among the options for the openers slot for India are Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, and KL Rahul, the vice-captain.

KL Rahul – The vice-captain is most likely to wear the big gloves for India leaving Sanju Samson on the bench. Pushing him to the openers slot allows India the chance to bring in Manish Pandey as a finisher alongside the explosive Hardik Pandya. Pandey’s fantastic fielding also helps the cause. In recent white-ball contests for India, While the form hints at Rahul India had settled on him on middle order role in ODIs before the pandemic struck and might think twice before tinkering with that.

Most of the team pick themselves but injuries and the length of the tour will play a crucial role in the selection.
KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan in celebratory mood. 
Image: BCCI

Shubman Gill – The 21-year-old made his ODI debut against New Zealand earlier in the year and did not make much of an impression in the two outings he had. While that was all the way back in January-February, Gill since then made the opener’s slot his own at the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2020 and topped the run scorers charts (440 runs in 14 games) for his side.

Mayank Agarwal – The Karnataka man has happy memories from his Australia tour in 2018/19, but that was in Tests and like Gill, his ODI career didn’t start off on a good note in New Zealand. In IPL 2020, however Mayank, had a good tournament which could lead to him getting a look in for at least one of the three games.

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Shami-Bumrah Workload Management and Pacers

Considering the length of the tour and the importance of the Jasprit Bumrah-Mohammed Shami duo, the think tank is likely to rotate the two senior bowlers to keep them fresh right through. While Bumrah played 15 games in the IPL, Shami played 14.

That would mean the likes of Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur would play as the second and third seamers. However, if both Bumrah and Shami play together, the chances are Thakur will have to be on the bench.

For Thakur, who’s been in the mix since 2017, the series provides a fantastic chance to make his case for regular selection stronger. And with media reports suggesting Ishant Sharma just might not be available for the Tests, the workload management would become a more important issue.

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Most of the team pick themselves but injuries and the length of the tour will play a crucial role in the selection.
Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav
(Photo: AP)

No Kuldeep Yadav?

The left arm spinner, who had forged a brilliant partnership with Yuzvendra Chahal before the ODI World Cup in 2019, has not been in the best form in recent years. He got taken for plenty of runs in New Zealand and hardly had any impact in IPL 2020 with KKR. With Ravindra Jadeja providing a second spinning option alongside Chahal, it is unlikely that Kuldeep will get a look in unless the surface so demands.

Predicted XI for first ODI: Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah

Squad: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (vc & wk), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Sanju Samson (wk)

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Topics:  India vs Australia 

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