India's predicted playing XI for the 1st BGT 2024-25 Test vs Australia | November 22, 2024
One of cricket's most high-profile Test series is all set to hit screens on Friday, November 22. India and Australia will battle it out in the first Test of the famous Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Optus Stadium in Perth.
The visitors, who aren't fancied to go very far in the rubber, will be without captain Rohit Sharma for the opening Test. In his absence, India have plenty of questions to answer in both the batting as well as the bowling departments. Almost nothing is certain in the side's XI ahead of the opening contest.
India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Devdutt Padikkal.
On that note, here is India's predicted playing XI for the first Test against Australia.
Openers: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul
With Rohit out, India are likely to move KL Rahul to an opening slot instead of trusting Abhimanyu Easwaran, who has looked rather off-color lately. While Rahul himself has clear issues with consistency, the away team could bank on experience and class more than any other intangible factor.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, who will be on his first tour of Australia, will be the other opener. The young left-hander will have his task cut out for him, up against the Kangaroos' fearsome pace attack.
Middle Order: Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Dhruv Jurel, Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy
Devdutt Padikkal has been added to the Indian squad after impressing on the A tour, and reports suggest that he could be in line to directly enter the playing XI for the first Test. The left-hander could slot in at No. 3 in place of Shubman Gill, who injured his thumb while fielding ahead of the series.
Virat Kohli, whose Test form has fallen off a cliff lately, will need to be at the forefront of India's efforts during the series. Following him will be Rishabh Pant, who is arguably the team's most important Test batter.
Another player who impressed on the A tour, Dhruv Jurel could play as a specialist batter in the middle order. It seems to be a toss-up between Jurel and Ravindra Jadeja, and reports from certain quarters have indicated that the team might not be too keen on fielding the left-arm spinner.
They also claim that Nitish Kumar Reddy could make his Test debut in Perth. While it's easy to understand why India want to play the fast-bowling all-rounder, it's certainly worth asking whether he's ready to play red-ball cricket at the highest level.
Washington Sundar was mightily impressive against New Zealand, and his style of bowling could suit Perth. But the young all-rounder doesn't seem to be in the thick of India's plans at the moment.
Lower Order: Ravichandran Ashwin, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah (c)
Ravichandran Ashwin is all set to play his first Test in Perth, having performed well on the team's last two tours of Australia. He could be India's lone specialist spinner and will have an important role to play.
Captain Jasprit Bumrah will lead the pace attack, and he has plenty of options when it comes to his bowling partners. Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana have reportedly been impressive in the nets and the intra-squad games, while Akash Deep has had a decent start to his Test career so far.
But Mohammed Siraj was a key component of India's last Test series win over Australia, and he clearly has the faith of the team management. So he could be picked ahead of one of the duo despite the fact that his bowling form has been woeful lately.
Harshit's versatility and the fact that he would lengthen the batting order slightly could give him an edge over Prasidh, although that would be harsh on Deep. It's hard to accurately predict what approach India will take when it comes to their bowling attack.