India’s press conference ahead of the Sydney Test began with their spokesperson saying R Ashwin was unfit and ruled out of the series-decider – two hours later, the off-spinner found his name in the 13-man shortlist declared for India’s tryst with history.
There was no mention of Ishant Sharma’s fitness – but hours after his name was found missing from the final XIII, it would be learnt that the pace spearhead is out with discomfort in his left rib.
One Test ago, KL Rahul was shunned out of the XI – at Melbourne, India opted for a pair of first-time openers for only the third time in their 86-year Test history – but his exile, apparently, is over and he’s back in contention.
The man flown in as an SOS-call after the defeat at Perth – Hardik Pandya – finds no room in the shortlist for the second game running.
A question-mark quagmire? Virat Kohli and team may fully know the playing XI they want to go in with as India look to end a 71-year wait for a Test series win Down Under, but they’ve sure left all of India with a lot to chew on in the hours before the Toss at the Sydney Cricket Ground on the morning of Thursday, 3 January.
Ashwin or No Ashwin?
After a year where their addresses to the media made the news on countless occasions, India have begun the new calendar by throwing a bit of a curve-ball. Despite his fitness being “a disappointment for us as a team and for him personally”, in the words of captain Kohli, Ashwin finds his name in India’s 13-man shortlist.
What?
The Indian shortlist, remember, was announced only after both captains were done speaking, and here’s what Australian skipper Tim Paine had to say about Ashwin’s possible absence.
“...I think some of our batters will be pretty happy to hear that news (of Ashwin probably missing out). But we know they’ve got some other spinners in their squad – Kuldeep Yadav is younger but has got some serious talent and Ravindra Jadeja did the job for them in Melbourne.”Tim Paine
Is a riveting contest, not devoid of top-class cricket through its length so far, going to reach its climax with a hidden hand of poker? Who’s bluffing here? And who will blink?
One Spinner or Two?
Ashwin’s fitness puzzle isn’t the only spin-related question staring at the Indian think-tank. Having resisted playing two spinners at Adelaide, and gone without a spinner at Perth –wickets that broke down enough for Nathan Lyon to return with 16 wickets from the two matches – could India be tempted to field two spin-bowling options at an SCG turf conventionally regarded among Australia’s more spin-friendly tracks?
The rule of thumb from Kohli’s era as captain suggests the answer would be no: in 13 Tests outside Asia (excluding West Indies) under Kohli, India have gone in with two spinners only once – at Lord’s in 2018. That backfired spectacularly, didn’t it?
The counter to that argument would be the preference to go ‘horses-for-courses’ under the Kohli-Ravi Shastri regime; Kohli did go 38 Tests without naming an unchanged XI before the Southampton Test during the tour to England.
That aside, the convention that Sydney is spin-friendly is fast spiralling towards the direction of being a myth. Spinners average 56.91, and take nearly a hundred balls per wicket at the SCG in the last four Tests at the ground.
Four Bowlers or Five?
This debate arises if India do decide to go with two spinners. But one would assume if India were, realistically, looking at playing five bowlers, a certain Hardik Pandya would have been in the mix.
That they are in an advantageous position in the series, with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy already retained, is down in large parts to the superlative display of their pace attack. The three omnipresent features on the tour – Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami; combined haul 45 wickets out of 60 – have been separated due to Sharma’s injury.
But Kohli is unlikely to want to load his two remaining first-choice pacers with added onus; as it is, Bumrah and Shami enter the final Test having bowled a combined total of 249.5 overs through the series.
That means of the two Yadavs included in the XIII for Sydney, Umesh will go to bed on Wednesday the more optimistic about his chances of being out on the field.
Rahul’s Exile Over?
If so, it might be a candidate for shortest ‘exile’ ever. Axed after returning a meagre 48 runs from two Tests – 44 of which came in the second innings at Adelaide – KL Rahul appears set for a fresh lease of life.
It would mark the coming of a full circle for the 26-year-old batsman. It was at the New Year’s Test of 2015, four Australian summers ago, that Rahul announced his arrival on the cricket map – bouncing back from an embarrassing debut with a maiden Test hundred in what was his first innings as an opener.
The happy memories, coupled with Sydney traditionally being the least ‘demonic’ of all Australian tracks, makes it more than likely that Rahul will get a chance to re-establish his credentials.
But if he does return, where does he bat?
Rahul or Vihari: Who Opens?
You would think the return of an opener into the fold would automatically mean the makeshift choice from the previous game slotting back down to more comfortable environs, but do selection calls really come so straightforward from this Indian camp?
It was a brave move to blood Vihari alongside Mayank Agarwal at MCG, and while the scorecard will show he managed only 21 runs, the 18.5 overs he batted out along with the debutant – the longest by an Indian opening pair in Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa in eight years – provided the platform on which India based their 443-run first innings total.
Still, with Ashwin unfit, Vihari will be shouldering some responsibility with the ball too, and the team management might be unwilling to burden the three-Test-old player with the added weight of opening the batting.
Predicted India XI for SCG Test
- KL Rahul
- Mayank Agarwal
- Cheteshwar Pujara
- Virat Kohli (c)
- Ajinkya Rahane
- Hanuma Vihari
- Rishabh Pant (wk)
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Mohammed Shami
- Umesh Yadav
- Jasprit Bumrah
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