India's strongest playing XI for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy vs Australia ft. Harshit Rana & KL Rahul
The BCCI recently announced India's squad for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. Rohit Sharma and Co. will play five Tests against the reigning World Test Championship winners, with the opening encounter commencing on November 22 in Perth.
Three uncapped players have been named in the contingent, which doesn't feature two key bowling cogs in Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami. While the visitors will enter the series as the definite underdogs, they have a decent amount of flexibility with respect to their team combination.
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.
What will their best side look like? Here is India's strongest playing XI for the Australia Test series.
Openers: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal
Abhimanyu Easwaran has been selected as a backup opener, with rumors surrounding Rohit Sharma's potential absence for a portion of the series. But for now, the Indian skipper can be penciled in as one of India's opening batters alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal. The duo will have a serious challenge on their hands to counter the likes of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.
Middle Order: KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja
Shubman Gill has made the No. 3 spot his own in recent times, but it might make more sense for India to field the struggling KL Rahul at that position. The Karnataka batter has more experience Down Under, and it's hard to see how he'll add value lower in the middle order.
Sarfaraz Khan has appeared to be in better form than Rahul of late, but the 27-year-old might not have the best technique for Australian conditions. While he could still find a way to score runs, India might want a more reliable option given how the other batters have performed of late.
Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja are key cogs in the Indian batting lineup. While Kohli and Jadeja have looked off-color of late and need to turn things around, Pant will be one of the team's biggest weapons.
Lower Order: Ravichandran Ashwin, Harshit Rana, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah
Previous tours of Australia have seen India pick four fast bowlers, but without a reliable batting option at No. 8, that might be tough. While Nitish Kumar Reddy is an option, the youngster is inexperienced and might not be developed enough in both departments.
So India might have no choice but to go with a second spinner. Ravichandran Ashwin should pip Washington Sundar to a spot in the XI despite the latter's promising performances across formats recently.
Mohammed Siraj has been a letdown in red-ball cricket for quite a while now, and India will likely need to tap into their pace reserves. Harshit Rana is yet to make his international debut but might still be a better option than Siraj, who was dropped from the side for the ongoing Pune Test against New Zealand.
Jasprit Bumrah will have a lot on his plate as the leader of the pace attack, and Akash Deep's underlying attributes could make him successful in Australia. Prasidh Krishna's injury history and disappointing start to his Test career work against him.