Opinion
The Indian tour of Australia has been on balance, so far.
Australia won the ODI series, and India won the T20I series. Neither of the teams has gained any mental edge through the limited-overs games.
So the stage is all set for the start of the Border Gavaskar Trophy Test matches to begin on even keel. It is going to be a tightly fought series, right down to the last game at the Gabba.
Let’s look at the possible choices for the Indian team for the first Test at Adelaide. I will cover the Australian team in my next article.
Batting
The two warm-up games against Australia A helped the Indian team test their squad before picking up the final XI for the pink ball Test in Adelaide.
The Test specialist batsmen like Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari and Prithvi Shaw got valuable practice to show to their readiness to the management.
Others like Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill, who were part of the white-ball squad, got their chance to tune in to the longer format in more bowler-friendly conditions.
Going into the warm-up games, Virat Kohli must have looked to get answers to two questions in the batting line-up. The first one is who will partner Mayank Agarwal to open the innings? The second one is should it be Wriddhiman Saha or Rishabh Pant for the wicketkeeping-batsman position?
At the end of the second warm-up game in Sydney, Virat should have got straight forward answers for those two questions. The answer to the first one is Shubman Gill and for the second one is Rishabh Pant.
Shubman Gill (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)
Shubman Gill looked at ease while batting in both the innings at SCG. His back foot stroke play was remarkably assured. Shubman was not late on the front foot drives either.
Prithvi Shaw, the other contender for the opening slot, played too loose and away from his body, hardly the blueprint to succeed against the Aussies with the pink ball.
Rishabh Pant looked in good touch and played with his characteristic belligerence, flattening competent Australia A bowlers. Rishabh was good with the wicketkeeping gloves as well. Having covered both the bases, Rishabh should win the argument over Wriddhiman Saha.
Saha is the better wicketkeeper, but Pant’s glove work isn’t far behind. If these Test matches were to be played in India, I would go with Saha as many of the overs would be bowled by spinners.
However, in Australia, the pitches have even bounce, the ball swings less in the air, and most of the overs will be bowled by fast bowlers. In such conditions, the difference between Saha and Pant’s abilities narrow considerably.
Rishabh scores over Saha with his destructive batting ability. An additional brownie point for Pant is that he will provide the left-handed variation to the batting unit.
Pant played aggressively against Nathan Lyon in the previous Test series. Virat can look at Pant to negate Lyon, just in case the wily Australian starts to get into his rhythm.
A minor debate could be about KL Rahul versus Hanuma Vihari for the number six position. I would expect Vihari to get the nod. He has been a Test regular for India, made a solid century in the warm-up game and provides a decent off-spinning option with the ball.
My top seven will be Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari and Rishabh Pant.
Key battle
Virat Kohli versus Josh Hazlewood will be the key match-up that would play a significant role in the first Test.
Hazlewood has taken Virat’s wicket on multiple occasions and accounted for Virat in the limited-overs games in this tour as well. Tim Paine will unleash Hazlewood as soon as Virat walks to the crease.
Bowling
Virat must thank the administrators a lot for arranging the two warm-up matches before the Test series. He must have had the biggest apprehensions on the bowling part of the line-up for the first Test.
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami are automatic picks.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
However, the third seamer position was thrown wide open after Ishant Sharma’s injury. The third seamer is a make-or-break position in Australian conditions. India has struggled to win in Australia whenever their third seamer was poor.
Navdeep Saini, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Siraj are the contenders for this vital spot in the team. Umesh bowled quite well in the first warm-up game, picking up some wickets and bowling with pace.
Siraj gave an excellent account of himself in the two warm-up games, bowling with aggression, picking up wickets and scaring a few Aussie batsmen with well directed bouncers. Most importantly, he hit the deck hard and used his height to good effect.
Navdeep Saini picked up wickets in the first innings of the warm-up game when the ball seamed around a lot. But the Aussie batsmen handled him easily in the second innings, when the wicket had flattened out considerably.
He bowled with good pace, but his style of floating the ball rather than hitting the deck hard failed to make an impression on the batsmen. The batsmen did not look hurried against Saini and consequently played him at ease. Saini’s performance during the ODI series was not good either.
Having eliminated Saini for this spot, it leaves Umesh and Siraj for the third seamer spot. Umesh has been part of the Indian Test squads to Australia since 2011-12. Except for the five-for in the 2012 Perth Test, Umesh did not have much success in Australia.
Over the years, Umesh has rarely come good outside the Indian sub-continent, where he is an outstanding Test match bowler.
On the other hand, Siraj’s height, high arm action and technique of hitting the deck hard should suit the conditions. His performance in the two warm-up games backs up this theory.
The only aspect that is in favour of Umesh is his vast experience in Test cricket. I will keenly look at Virat if he goes with Umesh’s experience or with Siraj’s suitability to the conditions.
If I were Virat, I will boldly take Siraj into the team and surprise the Aussies. Siraj looked comfortable bowling the bouncer from round the sticks to the right hander. This is a key ploy that Virat might use against the great Steven Smith.
The fourth bowling spot will go to a spinner. Ravichandran Ashwin will be my pick over Kuldeep Yadav. Ashwin is the better Test bowler, and his off spin will come in handy against the left-handed batsmen in the Australian team. The Indian right-handed quickies will create rough on the off side of the left handers for Ashwin to exploit.
Kuldeep, being a left-arm wrist-spin bowler, will have the same advantages as the right-arm off spinner. However, he is a lot slower off the pitch and gives more time for the batsmen to adjust.
If the pitch flattens out, Kuldeep will struggle to play the holding-one-end role for Virat. Ashwin is vastly experienced, and I expect him to play this role better than Kuldeep when the situation demands. In contrast to the situation with Umesh, I would like to go with the more experienced Ashwin over Kuldeep.
My bowling line-up for the first Test will be Bumrah, Shami, Siraj, Ashwin and Vihari.
Key battle
The Indian bowling versus Steven Smith will be the key match-up that will play a significant role in the outcome of the first Test and the whole series. Ever since Smith arrived on the Test scene, the Indians have struggled against him.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
The only team that has kept Smith quiet were the New Zealanders. India does not have a Neil Wagner to bowl that accurate and sustained short-pitched bowling to make Smith uncomfortable.
If I were Virat, the one ploy that I would try is to load the leg side, ask Siraj to go around the wicket and pepper Smith with well directed short ones.
The trick that works against Smith is to get him to brain fade. India succeeded in doing this against Smith in the 2017 home series.
The brain fade came about through sustained pressure in the second Test, with Ishant’s nagging bowling, the funny faces that he made at him, and Smith starting to feel the pressure since then.
The Indian unit looks in fine form going into the first Test at Adelaide. The two warm-up games and the limited-overs leg of the tour has given time for the squad to acclimatise to Australian conditions.
In the two warm-up games, the Indian team looked confident and the key players seemed in good touch.
I will be surprised if the team fails to put up a competent performance in the first Test at Adelaide. The result of the key battles that I have called out in this article might play a big role in determining the outcome of the first Test.
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