[AtheK]

Rohit
Gill
Puji
Kohli
Ishan
Jadeja
Axar
Ashwin
Thakur
Shami
Siraj

I will still go with two front line spinners, two fast bowlers and two allrounders. This should strengthen our batting, anyway historically majority of our last test matches our lower order has won them for us with bat also.

[NomadSK]

India Bolwing in overcast Conditions. 4 Seamers Finally

Playing XI

Rohit
Gill
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Jadeja
Bharat
Thakur
Shami
Umesh
Siraj

Ashwin out will be sigh of relief for Smith, Hope he's not among the high scorers.

Lucky Rohit won the toss to have the 4 seamers to barrage at Aussies now.

Bring it on !

[AtheK]

Two walking wickets in Sharma and Bharath, thank god he atleast won the toss. No point dissecting the team anymore, the dice has been rolled, hopefully we can get a good start with ball, or it will be just a catching up game from there on.

[PreludeSH]

Ashwin should learn wicket keeping as an addition to be in team

Umesh Yadav is a on/off guy. When he is good its mostly by accident ! Hope is ON in this test.

[harry10]

If is what it is. Looking at the green top and overcast conditions I knew Ash will miss out. Although I will play him instead of Jaddu cos Ash is better bowler.

Anyways good start by seamers. Need to bring out A game now.

[PPS]

Huge call to play both Umesh Yadav & Shardul considering both can be inconsistent & not much expected from Jadeja - the bowler! Thats effectively just 2 seamers. Lets hope Umesh & Shardul come good.

[AtheK]

Umesh Yadav being taken to the cleaners, he single handely undid all the good work done by the only two fast bowlers in the team.

[NPV]

Did India make a blunder by omitting Ashwin - the leading test bowler and second ranked all rounder ? Umesh Yadav usually bowls well with the old ball and gets some reverse swing, but I just hope this match isn't lost because of a team selection blunder or mis-reading the pitch.

Time will tell!

**Marnus Labuschagne is one lucky bloke with reviews and lives, if he gets one or two of them, he usually goes on to score big and make it count.

[redCherry]

Yes, I believe so, especially if Jadeja is playing as bowling allrounder.
Poor Ashwin, best offspinner in the world, and still can't make it into the playing XI.

And about Umesh Yadav, usually he takes wickets with old ball, and when he's least expected to. Hope he does it again

Originally Posted by NPV

Did India make a blunder by omitting Ashwin - the leading test bowler and second ranked all rounder ? Umesh Yadav usually bowls well with the old ball and gets some reverse swing

[SoumenD]

Another WTC final and our bowlers getting hammered on foreign soil with green top. Travis head is toying with our bowlers like nobody's business, one-day style century. Smith as usual going about his business. Not much hopes from our batting department either except Kohli & maybe Gill.

Had high hopes of seeing India finally win an ICC trophy after a decade but that dream seems slipping away

[AtheK]

Why even bowl first in such a match? (Probably captain was scared of getting out in first Over)

Why not play your #1 bowler instead of Jadeja if only one has to play, Ashwin is no mug with the bat !

How come rahane comes ahead of axar who has been batting brilliantly?

Bharat ahead of Kishan, when Bharat had no match practice?

Shardul with his military pace still got them one wicket, he should have played as an allrounder anyway!

So technically we are playing a WTC final with two or max three ( 2 + 0.5 + 0.5) bowlers!!

Looking at batting have no hopes from Rohit Sharma and Bharat, so Technically even batting is weak.

I just hope gill and Kohli show up with bat, this game at this point looks like can have only two results, barring some miracle, Aus is heading towards a 500+ score.

[Emvi]

While Maruti Jimny takes the first half of the day, the second half clearly belongs to the Indian Cricket Team. And I am not surprised.

[NPV]

India is definitely on the backfoot right from day 1. The Aussies, true to expectations have played extremely well. Steve Smith has a great test record in England and an even better record at the Oval, Travis Head just rubbed salt into India's wounds with his quick scoring. Uphill task from here, I think we have to brace up for an Aussie declaration. Ashwin is definitely being missed!

[Oxy]

I cannot understand why we screw up the team selection for such crucial encounters.

I mean, the Oval has always been spin friendly. Why would you pick an extra fast bowler here at the expense of Ashwin, who even has 5 test centuries to his name with the bat?

[NPV]

We saw the pitch yesterday on Day 1, it didn't seem to be doing much for our bowlers, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Aussie bowlers do very well when we bat;our batting is capable of making the pitch seem like a demon