Kuldeep Yadav in? Changes Shubman Gill could make to India XI for must-win 2nd ODI against Australia

Shubman Gill’s reign as India ODI captain was off to a forgettable start on Sunday after the Men in Blue found themselves getting outplayed by the Mitchell Marsh-led hosts in their opening game of their white-ball tour of Australia. Former captains Rohit Sharma (8) and Virat Kohli (0) enduring a forgettable return to the Indian team after seven months as they were dismissed cheaply by Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc respectively inside the powerplay.

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Skipper Gill (10) and vice-captain Shreyas Iyer (11) didn’t impress with the bat either, and India might have fallen struggled to reach 100 in the rain-affected match that was eventually reduced to 26 overs per side had it not been for KL Rahul (38) and Axar Patel’s (31) handy knocks.

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India ended up posting 136/9, with debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy chipping in with an unbeaten 19 towards the end. Australia, however, ended up cruising past the DLS revised target of 131 with nearly five overs to spare despite losing the wicket of Travis Head (8) early.

Captain Marsh led the way with an unbeaten 46 that was supported by important contributions from Josh Philippe (37) and debutant Matt Renshaw (21 not out). This was after Hazlewood (7-2-20-2) and Starc (6-1-22-1) made the life of Indian batters  – particularly Rohit and Kohli – difficult and barely gave them room to breathe.

Heading into what is a must-win clash for the visitors at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday, the Indian team will be inclined towards making a change or two to their lineup.

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Will Kuldeep return in Adelaide after being overlooked in Perth? 

Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav had been overlooked for the entire five-match Test series in England but made a triumphant return to the Indian team in the Asia Cup, where he was the standout bowler by a fair distance and finished as the leading wicket-taker with 17 wickets. Kuldeep was also the standout bowler in the Test series against West Indies earlier this month, collecting 12 wickets.

With Kuldeep excelling in the T20 as well as Test formats over the last couple of months, there’s no reason to believe he can’t carry that performance over to the ODI format, even if in Australian conditions instead of the subcontinent.

Former India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar was among those batting for Kuldeep’s inclusion in the playing XI in Adelaide, urging captain Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir to not continue with their tactic of benching Kuldeep outside Asia.

“He understands, India understands, and Shubman Gill understands that Kuldeep Yadav is India’s biggest threat in Australia. The conditions will suit him, he will get pace off the pitch, and India will need him between the 15 to 35-over mark to pick crucial wickets, especially with no Varun Chakravarthy,” Nayar said on Star Sports.

“This Varun Chakravarthy-Kuldeep Yadav combination is why they were so successful in the Champions Trophy and also when they played England in India. So, there may be a thought process and you may see Kuldeep Yadav come in,” he added.

Prasidh Krishna in place of Harshit Rana? 

Given Gill and Gambhir’s preference for a long batting lineup, it would seem as if they would rather bring Kuldeep in place of pacer Harshit Rana than all-rounders Reddy or Washington Sundar. However, if the Men in Blue chose to retain their existing combination of three frontline pacers and two spin-bowling all-rounders and continue to leave Kuldeep out, they could still make a change in the bowling department.

It might still make sense for India to leave Rana out in favour of Prasidh Krishna, who was expensive in the Test series in England but impressed in the thrilling six-run victory in the series finale at The Oval. Prasidh, after all, is a hit-the-deck bowler who is better suited to the bouncy decks in Australia than English wickets, and thus could prove more effective in the ongoing series.

And one look at Prasidh’s stats would tell you that he relishes the 50-over format – he has a better bowling average (25.58) in ODIs than Tests or T20Is and the same holds true when taking domestic cricket into account, with his List A average of 23.90 being his best in any format.