Test Cricket: Expect a few new names in Indian team to be picked for Australia

India may have put a resounding performance in the first ODI at Cuttack but before the bandwagon now moves to Ahmedabad for the second ODI, all eyes will be in Mumbai where the selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil meets to select the squad that will tour Australia for the four test series.

TOP ORDER:

The opening combination is on top of the selectors’ worry list as they tried chopping and changing the combination during the England tour after Dhawan failed to impress in the first two tests. His replacement, Gambhir, looked at sea against the moving ball and failed to cross 20 in his four innings. While Dhawan has returned to form with a couple of sparkling performances in the limited overs format at home and is expected to retain his place along with Murali Vijay, it will be the spot of the third opener that will be up for grabs. KL Rahul, who had an impressive domestic season, capped it off with twin centuries in the Duleep Trophy final. With a solid technique and a hunger for scoring big, the Karnataka opener may be the surprise inclusion in the squad. Rahul, however, faces serious competition from his Karnataka teammate, Robin Uthappa, who also capped off a brilliant domestic season and the IPL with a century against East Zone in the semifinals. Gautam Gambhir, who also scored a century in the Duleep Trophy, has an outside chance of making the cut while Virender Sehwag hasn’t done much to convince the selectors about his comeback.

MIDDLE ORDER:

The middle order, despite alarming performances in England, picks itself with Pujara, Kohli, Rahane and Rohit Sharma in the middle order. Sharma’s performance in the warm-up game against Sri Lanka must have done enough to convince the selectors about his recovery from injury. Suresh Raina, who is currently having a dream run in the shorter formats of the game, might just get a look in as a backup option in the middle order. Stuart Binny, who was selected as the bowling all rounder in England, may also get a look in after picking up seven wickets in the game against East Zone.

WICKETKEEPERS:

It will be a straight pick between Wriddhiman Saha and Naman Ojha to play the backup role to MS Dhoni. While Saha has been picked for the ODI series against Sri Lanka, Ojha’s three centuries for India A in Australia earlier this year may just work in his favor.

BOWLING:

While Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Shami Ahmed pick themselves as the front line pacers along with Ashwin as the spinner, the fight will be for the remaining 3-4 places in the lineup. The selectors have to pick amongst Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Mohit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey and Pankaj Singh as the backup pacers. Jadeja will most definitely be picked as the bowling all rounder and the second spinner while Karn Sharma may just get the nod ahead of Axar Patel to bring variety in to the attack.

The Sports Mirror’s pick:
Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (WK), Naman Ojha (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Karn Sharma, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Shami Ahmed, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma

Tags: Australia, Cricket, India, MS Dhoni, Test Cricket, Test Series, The Sports Mirror