India and Australia are just a day away from taking the field in Nagpur for the 1st of the 4-match Test series. Heading towards the mega-encounter, many experts and pundits have put out their version of India's playing 11, and now Dinesh Karthik too has joined the list.
Gist of Karthik's Playing 11
Karthik put his playing 11 and a major name was missing. Karthik left out Shubman Gill, opened with KL & Rohit, played Jadeja at 6, chose KS Bharat as a wicketkeeper, and also included Axar Patel at the expense of Kuldeep Yadav.
Here's what Dinesh Karthik wrote:
My 11 for the first Test
- Kl
- Rohit
- Pujara
- Virat
- SKY
- Jadeja
- KS Bharat
- Ashwin
- Axar
- Shami
- Siraj
Earlier, Wasim Jaffer also put out his playing 11 and left out Axar Patel. This is what it looks like. "My India XI for First Test. 1. Rohit (c) 2. KL 3. Pujara 4. Virat 5. Shubman 6. Bharat (wk) 7. Jadeja 8. Ashwin 9. Kuldeep 10. Shami 11. Siraj. Hard to leave out Axar but Kuldeep brings variety as a wrist spinner," wrote Jaffer.
Jaffer's playing 11 also sense as it would be difficult and redundant to play both Axar and Jadeja and the same 11. Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja both provide India with the same kind of services. They aren't huge turners of the ball but can stick to one line and length and get the ball to hit the rough time and time again. With the bat in hand, both are more than capable of big innings. Jadjeja, even more so than Axar. But in Jadeja's absence, Axar brought out his A-game and more often than not, did the job for India. He even played a few match-winning innings.
More on Axar vs Jadeja here.
Also Read: IND vs AUS, 1st Test, Live Streaming Details | When and where to watch India vs Australia on TV?
