Former Indian coach and commentator Ravi Shastri has picked the India XI for the first Test match of the series at Perth starting from November 21. Shastri has made many contentious choices in his XI including adding Shubman Gill as an opener, KL Rahul at number 3 spot and dropping an in-form Sarfaraz Khan in favour of Dhruv Jurel.
Shastri was picking the side under the assumption that skipper Rohit Sharma who has recently become father to a baby boy will not be able to make it in time to Perth for the 1st Test match and Jasprit Bumrah will take the reigns in his absence.
Notably, Shastri was the coach of Indian cricket team when they won the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia last two times. He also shares a personal equation with many of the players in the current Indian team including captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah.
He stated that opening slot in Rohit’s absence is a big conundrum for the selectors but Shubman Gill could be a good option for the sectors to play alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal.
“That’s a tough one and selectors have a choice… You can push Shubman (Gill) back up the order and he has opened in the past in Australia. Otherwise, you’ll have to then make an alternative. Easwaran hasn’t done that well (for India A in Australia). But it’s how he’s batting in the nets, how Rahul is batting in the nets. But that Shubman Gill option is also there.” Shastri told ICC Review
No Sarfaraz in Ravi Shastri’s XI, Dhruv Jurel gets the nod:
Shastri snubbed Sarfaraz Khan for a place in the XI and instead focused on giving a middle order position to Dhruv Jurel who showed tremendous skill during the India A matches in Australia a few days earlier.
“I think he can easily play as a (specialist) batter… What impressed me most was his temperament, his calmness when the chips were down and the tightness he brought to his game – especially under pressure. Under pressure, you can see a lot of players struggling. You can see them being fidgety. You can see them being all over the shop. You can see those nerves coming through. But in this guy’s case, his temperament stood out.” Shastri added
Ravi Shastri’s XI for IND vs AUS 1st Test:
Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja/Washington Sundar, Nitish Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah (c), Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj.