The reports had been doing the rounds the day before the Test match began. At the toss, Rohit Sharma confirmed that India had left out Shubman Gill, a specialist batter who had played one-drop for India in this series (and throughout the year), for Washington Sundar, a spin-bowling all-rounder.

Gill has made 866 runs in 2024 at 43.30. However, in this series, his numbers read 60 runs in two Tests at 20.00 with a highest score of 31. In fact, outside Asia, Gill has 526 runs in 12 Test matches at 26.30, and has not made reached forty even once in 16 innings since his debut series, in Australia in 2020-21.

Of course, Gill had famously impressed on that maiden tour, with 45 and 35 not out on debut at Melbourne (the venue where he was dropped today), 50 and 31 at Sydney, and 7 and 91 at Brisbane.

Sundar, Gill’s replacement, had outperformed the veterans Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin in the home series against New Zealand, following which he played at Perth ahead of the duo. Ashwin replaced Sundar at Adelaide, while Jadeja replaced Ashwin at Brisbane. Ashwin announced retirement from international cricket on the last day of the Brisbane Test.

India have now paired the two all-rounders – off-spinner Sundar and left-arm spinner Jadeja. There is a third all-rounder too, seam bowler Nitish Kumar Reddy, who debuted earlier this series. Despite not reaching fifty yet, Reddy top-scored in three of the first five Indian innings and averages 44.75. However, that number drops to 23.36 in first-class cricket.

India, thus, are going in with six bowlers – the all-rounders Sundar, Jadeja, and Reddy, along with the three fast bowlers, vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Akash Deep.

Have teams picked six bowlers before?

Yes, and it has often backfired.

Australia tried to use the same tactic during the 1954-55 Ashes. At Melbourne, Keith Miller – one of the greatest all-rounders of all time – batted at three and five in that Test. Another all-rounder, Richie Benaud, batted three in the second innings. Captain Ian Johnson, Ray Lindwall, and Ron Archers were bowlers who could all bat.

Bolstered by this, Australia went in with four specialist batters – Arthur Morris, Les Favell, Neil Harvey, and Graeme Hole. They made 231 and 111 against Brian Statham, Frank Tyson, and Bob Appleyard. The series was levelled 1-1 before the Melbourne Test: Australia lost 3-1.

India adopted a similar tactic at Ahmedabad in 1983-84 by going in with Sunil Gavaskar, Anshuman Gaekwad, Sandeep Patil, and a debutant in Navjot Sidhu. The batting line-up ended there, banking on the cushion of Balwinder Sandhu (Test career average 30.83) at No.10.

India were 127-0 in the first innings before folding for 241, then 103, on a rapidly deteriorating pitch against Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Wayne Daniel, and Winston Davis.

Of course, one may cite South Africa’s example from the Kanpur Test of 2004-05, where they opened with Andrew Hall, had Jacques Kallis at four and the all-rounders, Shaun Pollock and Zander de Bruyn down the order. However, with his superlative batting record, Kallis would have walked into the side as a specialist bat irrespective of his bowling abilities.

Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.