India announced their playing XI for the first Test against Australia with Prithvi Shaw getting the nod ahead of Shubman Gill for the opener’s slot. Wriddhiman Saha, meanwhile, will be the wicketkeeper for the Virat Kohli-led team in Adelaide.
A lot of the talk heading into the series opener centered around India’s team composition. While Mayank Agarwal was set to be one of the opening batsmen, Shaw and Gill were the contenders for the other opener’s role.
Both youngsters had chances to solidify their position with the two warm-up games but neither of them could manage to get a big score. Now, as it turns out, India have decided to go with Shaw who could be an explosive batsman at the top of the order.
The other two notable omissions from the Indian XI for the first Test are Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul. India have decided to stick with Saha, who is a more technically sound option behind the wickets, despite Pant getting a quickfire century in the second warm-up game against Australia A recently.
Rahul, on the other hand, had an outside chance of making it to the team because of his pedigree as a batsman in international cricket over the past few years. But the Indian team has stuck with captain Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari for the middle order.
In terms of bowling, India will be going in with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav as the three pacers, with Ravichandran Ashwin edging out Ravindra Jadeja (who was recovering from a hamstring injury) for the spinner’s role.
India’s playing XI for the day-night Test in Adelaide starting on Thursday:
Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
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