KL Rahul Opener, Nitish Likely To Debut; India’s Probable Playing XI For First Test Of Border Gavaskar Trophy

The highly anticipated Border Gavaskar Trophy will start on Friday and ahead of the fixture, India could line up for the match in this manner.

Hyderabad: India will take on Australia in Perth on November 22 in the opening Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. Ahead of the fixture, Rohit Sharma’s absence and a few injury concerns have left the Indian side with multiple gaps to fill. In such a scenario, India will need to reshuffle their batting unit. Also with Rohit unavailable for the fixture, Jasprit Bumrah will lead the side.

Who will open with Jaiswal?

Rohit’s absence has left a vacant spot at the top to partner Yashasvi Jaiswal. Also, Shubman Gill is likely to miss the match as he has suffered a thumb fracture according to some media reports. So, it leaves India with two openers in the form of KL Rahul and Abhimanyu Easwaran to partner Jaiswal. Easwaran scored only 36 runs from four innings for India A and Australia A. Thus, the team management is likely to back on the experience of KL Rahul on foreign soil and pair him up with Jaiswal at the top.

Kohli might bat at No.3

Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant are likely to make up the top five in the batting unit. Kohli and Pant have been mainstays in the team while Sarfaraz has been consistent in Test cricket since his debut with 371 runs laced with one century and three fifties.

Kohli is likely to bat at number three with Sarfaraz and Pant coming in to bat after him.

Debut for Nitish Kumar Reddy on cards

Considering the bouncy nature of the Australian pitches, India is likely to opt for four pacers and one spinner. Thus, Nitish Kumar Reddy is likely to make a debut as the team would like to rely on his skills as a pace bowling all-rounder in Australia. In the spin department, Ashwin and Jadeja are the two options and the team can go with either of them.

The trio of Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep will comprise the pace department.