Firstpost Cricast Episode 1: Opening conundrum, bowling combos and more as India decide on XI for first Test against Australia

Who will make it to the India playing XI for their first Test against Australia that will be played at Adelaide from 6 December ? Let’s discuss the probable Indian XI for their opener on their tour down under. With Prithvi Shaw out of reckoning, having suffered a horrible ankle injury during the team’s warm-up match against Cricket Australia XI, the onus could now be on the other two frontline openers, Murali Vijay and KL Rahul to lead the way. India does have other make-shift options in the form of Cheteshwar Pujara and Parthiv Patel while social media is also abuzz with the possibility of Rohit Sharma opening in Test match cricket.

Virat Kohli’s number four spot is fixed while Cheteshwar Pujara will hope he starts off at the number three position after he was dropped from the XI in the first Test of the England tour. The personnel for the other batting spots, however, are less certain with Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari and Rohit all in contention for a place. The big decision Kohli and co. also need to take is whether it makes more sense to play the extra batsman at six or go in with their tried-and-tested tactic of having five bowlers in their line-up. It was a tactic they deviated from at The Oval where Vihari made his debut but with Kohli having always enjoyed the luxury of having an extra bowler, India might look to lean towards it yet again. Rishabh Pant is the incumbent keeper and should retain his spot ahead of Parthiv but the bigger question is who will constitute India’s bowling attack? A lot will depend on the Adelaide surface, which in recent Tests, albeit day-night ones, and in Sheffield Shield games, has assisted seam bowlers. In that case, India could prefer going in with just one spinner and three or four seamers. Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah look certain to lead the attack while the fight for the remaining spots would be between Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami, along with the three spinners, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav.