Boxing Day Test: India bolster batting, hand debuts to Gill, Siraj

Trailing 0-1 in the four-match series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India have opted for four changes for the second Test against Australia starting on Saturday (December 26) at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

On the eve of the Boxing Day Test, India announced their Playing XI, handing debuts to Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj, who comes in place of the injured Mohammed Shami. Gill has replaced Prithvi Shaw and will open the batting with Mayank Agarwal.

The other two changes are Rishabh Pant, replacing Wriddhiman Saha as the wicketkeeper, and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja coming in for captain Virat Kohli.

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The visitors will be without Kohli, who is back home on paternity leave. Ajinkya Rahane will lead the side in the last three Tests of the series.

A look at the changes suggests that India are desperate to get the right combination to bounce back in the series.

Opening batsman Gill has been highly rated and he averages 68-plus in first-class cricket for Punjab. The 21-year-old Gill was part of India’s Under-19 World Cup winning team in 2018, scoring more than 350 runs.

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Right-arm paceman Siraj, who is part of the Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), has been a consistent performer for India A. He impressed in the two warm-up games before the Test series.

After being bowled out for their record low of 36 in the first day/night Test in Adelaide, India seem to have strengthened their batting, with their key batsman Kohli not available.

Pant, who hit a century in the warm-up game, has been preferred over Saha, who is among the best wicket-keepers in the world at the moment, a fact acknowledged even by Kohli.

And, it is not often that India pick two specialist spinners in overseas Tests. Both Ravichandran Ashwin and Jadeja feature regularly in home five-day games but with not much on offer in foreign conditions, India pick only one.

The selection of Jadeja, who is capable of contributing with the bat as well, shows India are more concerned about putting runs on the board at MCG.

It is after nine years that India are playing two or more Test debutants in an away game. The last time it happened was in 2011 when Kohli played his maiden Test in the West Indies, and Abhinav Mukund and Praveen Kumar too debuted in the same match. And, since MS Dhoni’s Test retirement midway through the series in Australia in 2014, India had not made four changes.

With all the new personnel coming in, India will be hoping to put up a good show and square the series against an unchanged Australian team.

India Playing XI: Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

Match starts 5:00 am IST

ALERT?: #TeamIndia for 2nd Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia to be played in MCG from tomorrow announced. #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/4g1q3DJmm7

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 25, 2020