Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami
Australia held the advantage heading into the Adelaide game, having never lost any Pink Ball Test, and their streak remained unbeaten as many aptly predicted. But the manner in which the visiting Indian side, the defending Border-Gavaskar champion, were outclassed has left many guessing over the probable playing XI for the Melbourne game or the Boxing Day Test. What makes it even tougher for India is that this XI will be expected to script a comeback from the horrifying "Summer of 36" in the absence of skipper Virat Kohli and pacer Mohammed Shami. With four days to go before the second Test begins at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, here are some of the areas that the management might look for changes...
Will Melbourne see a new opening pair?
This has been the one change called for univocally across world cricket. Poor footwork in the Adelaide opener left Prithvi Shaw with just four runs off six balls that he faced in the two innings, which also includes a duck. Not that his partner, Mayank Agarwal, was far impressive. He faced 40 balls each in both the innings with scores of 17 and 9. India presently have two more openers in the fray - KL Rahul and Shubman Gill. While Rahul has played only one red-ball game since facing the axe in Test cricket in September 2019, Gill has scored enough through his domestic games, India A stints and even the practice match ahead of this Test series to prove his worth for the slot.
However, India might look to retain Shaw for the MCG Test as well before he hands over the spot to Rohit Sharma, who is expected to return for the final two games. Shaw had suffered from a similar issue in the New Zealand Test as well, but had changed his technique by playing the ball closer to the body mixing up his footwork well with aggressive strokes to carve his maiden overseas half-century. The management hence might entrust him with the hope of a similar show as in Christchurch. This might also come from the inspirational comeback that Shaw's Aussie counterpart Joe Burns showed. The Aussie averaged less than seven in the Sheffield Shield games this year and scored two ducks in the practice games yet he was continued to be backed by head coach Justin Langer and all it took was one confident stroke to shruff off that poor form and score an unbeaten half-century in Adelaide.
Who will replace Virat Kohli?
That the Indian captain will be unavailable for after the first Test, the management had already looked at Hanuma Vihari as a probable replacement for the No.4 spot with stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane retaining his usual place in the lineup. However, most veterans are backing either of Gill and Rahul to take over the spot. Rahul has batted only once outside the top-order spots, back in 2014, while Gill has the experience of batting in the middle-order, scoring most of his tally of 970 runs from eight unofficial matches since 2018 as a middle-order batsman.
However, it is likely that both might find it difficult to make it through to the XI for the No.4 spot if the management opts for an extra bowler, which only becomes applicable if Ravindra Jadeja is fit to play for the MCG Test, given that the team will also miss Shami. Then Vihari will be promoted up the order to No.4 and Jadeja will take his spot at No.6.
Wriddhiman Saha or Rishabh Pant?
Going by their horses-for-courses strategy, India picked the specialist keeper in Saha against the pink ball. But he missed a few catches, although tough ones, and failed to get going with the bat, and hence there has been a growing chorus calling for Pant in the lineup. Saha might have been retained had India been going with the same XI, but with Kohli gone, India will look to strengthen their batting and hence add Pant, who has although fallen out of favour in the limited-overs format.
Who will replace Shami?
Shami incurred an injury while batting on day 3 of the Adelaide game and is reported to have fractured his forearm. BCCI is yet to officially confirm it. If he is ruled out, India will have to choose between Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini as the third pacer after Umesh Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah while naming one of the extras - T Natarajan, Kartik Tyagi and Shardul Thakur - as Shami's replacement in the squad.
