[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by PPS

Will be too shocked if Gill doesn't bat at no.5 against Australia next week! Considering the rich vain of form he's in & Shreyas Iyer still down with a stiff back, Gill looks a certainty. Don't think team management will entertain thoughts of playing Ishan in Tests considering his form off late, which is a good thing since Kona Bharat is the better keeper. Should be an interesting Test Series on turning pitches since India are no longer the best players of spin & some of them downright struggle.

I think Gill might actually open with Rohit. The crowd favourite (/s) KL Rahul might keep wickets and come at number 6 (more so 'cos he is the vice captain).

India XI:
1. Subhman Gill
2. Rohit Sharma (c)
3. Virat Kohli
4. Cheteshwar Pujara
5. Shreyas Iyer
6. KL Rahul (wk & vc)
7. Ravindra Jadeja
8. Axar Patel
9. Ravi Ashwin
10. Mohammad Shami
11. Mohammad Siraj

So, we have batting till number 9.

[AtheK]

Shreyas Iyer is injured and I really don’t think they will play Rahul as WK in test matches, so instead of Iyer it will be Ishan Kishan or Bharat while Rahul will bat in place of iyer

[Aakash118]

Don’t think that playing KL as a wk will be a wise call. Keeping against spinners in test matches is far different from keeping in white ball cricket.I will like to see Ishan behind the wickets because his aggressive batting can be a boon in crunch situations (similar to Pant), but I feel that team will go with Bharat given the fact that he has been in the reserves of test team for quite a while now. Also I feel that team may rest one of Shami and Siraj as they’ve been playing continuously and go with Umesh. So the playing XI will most likely be like this.

Rohit
Gill
Pujara
VK
KL
RJ
Bharat/Ishan
Ashwin
Axar
Umesh
Siraj/Shami

[harry10]

Iyer is out for first match. Big blow considering except for Pant only he dominates spin in tests.

Jaddu is declared fit so big plus. Trio of Ash,jaddu and Axar can demolish aussies.

Rohit and KL will open for sure.
KS bharat will be the keeper.
No.5 spot is a toss up between Gill/SKY/Sarfraz.

Ideally it's Sarfraz who should be playing cos he bats at no.5 for his state team too. While Gill who is in tremendous form usually opens or bats at 3 so will he be fine at no.5 is debatable. However I am sure the great management will debut SKY ignoring both Gill and Sarfraz. I really hope it's Gill or Sarfraz.

[whencut86]

Originally Posted by harry10

Rohit and KL will open for sure.

Gill is the opener. In the current form he is in he will get picked ahead of KL for the opener's slot. Rohit as captain automatically gets picked as second opener. If at all there is a toss up it has to be between SKY, Sarfaraz and KL in the middle.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by harry10

Iyer is out for first match.

Iyer has some rotten luck. Every time he seems set to be a regular, he gets injured. And his replacements tend to make the most of the opportunity.

[redCherry]

No idea why we are even discussing about Sarfaraz? He's still not in the test squad (although I feel he should have been by now).

To me it looks like SKY got selected to tests based on his form in T20Is. And, we have instances where this selection stratergy has back-fired (remember Kohli's insistence on playing Karn Sharma over Ashwin in Australia tests, based on his IPL form? ).

Nothing against SKY, but I feel Sarfaraz should have been selected to the squad before SKY.
Moreover, somehow I'm very sure SKY's approach to batting in T20 works in tests, and he seems to bat in T20 mode irrespective of the format, from whatever we saw of him in the few ODIs so far.

[AtheK]

Ya sarfaraz and shaw keeps getting neglected, atleast shaw made it to team, sarfaraz hasn't had that luck too. I completely agree in tests he should have played ahead of SKY, why just sky even ahead of No good Rahul.

[VWAllstar]

My Playing XI for 1st Test Match vs Australia:

R Sharma (c)
S Gill
C Pujara
V Kohli
S Khan
R Jadeja
KS Bharat (wk)
R Ashwin
K Yadav
M Shami
M Siraj

Though Sarfaraz getting selected is less likely to happen.

[Aakash118]

KL has done well at 5 in ODIs and he is experienced too, will be my pick for that no. 5 spot. In tests, experience does matter at times. Btw, talking of no. 5, what happened with Vihari?

[PPS]

Originally Posted by harry10

No.5 spot is a toss up between Gill/SKY/Sarfraz.
Ideally it's Sarfraz who should be playing cos he bats at no.5 for his state team too.

Sarfaraz isn't even in the squad! The selectors always knew Shreyas was racing against time to be fit yet they haven't bothered to name any replacement. Ideally both Sarfaraz & Bharat should have been tried in Bangladesh, would have been an ideal opportunity for both. Now due to Pant's accident, the Selectors are forced to look at attacking options like SKY & Ishan while neglecting heavy domestic scorers like Sarfaraz. Whatever happened to the pecking order!

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by Aakash118

Btw, talking of no. 5, what happened with Vihari?

Going by BCCI's recent policy, Vihari is either injured or would have gotten injured if selected before playing a match.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by deehunk

Going by BCCI's recent policy, Vihari is either injured or would have gotten injured if selected before playing a match.

He played left handed, batting with one hand after getting his forearm fractured in the Ranji QF yesterday.

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by Eddy

He played left handed, batting with one hand after getting his forearm fractured in the Ranji QF yesterday.

Appreciate Vihari's commitment but BCCI is very predictable these days. I feel if Ashwin fails, the Aussies will win the series. With one week to go, we don't who will be in the final playing XI

[PPS]

Originally Posted by deehunk

Appreciate Vihari's commitment but BCCI is very predictable these days.

Vihari is a fighter but he has been discarded & isn't really a part of the team managements plans, atleast doesn't look like it!

I feel if Ashwin fails, the Aussies will win the series.

Ashwin is the greatest match winner in India! Even if he doesn't pick wickets, we have decent spinners in Axar & Jadeja. India has lost just 2 Tests in the last 10yrs at Home! Either India has to play really badly to lose this series or Australia have to play out of their skins!