After winning the first Test of the series convincingly in Perth, India have failed to win a single game out of the next three, losing in Adelaide and Melbourne and drawing at Brisbane.

With the series at 2-1, India need a victory to draw the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and also to keep their hopes alive for the World Test Championship final. Rohit Sharma, the captain, is under the scanner for his performances with the bat as well as in the field as captain, while several questions hang around the combination India are going to choose for Sydney, especially with respect to their bowling attack.

Here, we try to answer them and pick our preferred India XIs for the Sydney Test.

Abhishek Mukherjee, Wisden India head of content

KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar/Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah (c), Mohammed Siraj

There cannot be a place for Rohit Sharma if India decide to go in with their best XI. If India are bold enough to leave out their captain, Rahul should replace Rohit at the top and Gill return to his old spot at No.3.

Reddy has been good enough with the bat to merit a place in the XI. At the same time, his bowling has at best a bonus. If India include him, it should be as a specialist batter who can fill in, not as a bowling all-rounder.

That will allow India to play five bowlers. Bumrah and Siraj select themselves. Jadeja, too, should not be a difficult choice. His record in Australia (18 wickets at 28.38 in six Tests), especially Sydney (six at 22.50 in two Tests), is better than perceived.

Also read: India fast bowler ruled out of final BGT Test due to back issue

With Akash Deep ruled out, India may opt for Prasidh Krishna, the tallest and fastest of their options. For the other spot, they may, depending on the conditions, back Washington Sundar or recall Harshit Rana. Across the last five Tests, seamers have taken 92 wickets at 33.07 at the SCG and spinners 46 at 43.41.

The chasm may seem significant, but if one considers only touring bowlers, the averages read 45.95 for seam and 57.14 for spin. Seam still holds an edge, but the gap is not substantial. It is likely to be a flat track.

Aadya Sharma, Wisden India editor

Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

Desperate times, desperate measures. On form, Rohit Sharma probably doesn't warrant a place in the India XI. In Perth, Bumrah showed India can excel even without Rohit's captaincy. The second bit makes it easier, and maybe Rohit takes the call himself. Gill wasn't terrible in Adelaide, and deserves one more chance. NKR is undroppable, giving India enough batting depth.

On the bowling front, more reinforcements in the pace attack would have been ideal to take load off Bumrah, but the current balance doesn't allow any more. It will be on the other two quicks to really step up.

Also read: Rohit Sharma is no longer in India's best Test XI, so what happens now?

Naman Agarwal, Wisden India news editor

KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

While there was no indication after the Melbourne defeat that Rohit Sharma might retire or sit out the Sydney Test, in an ideal situation, either of those two scenarios should have played out. Rohit has been in no form whatsoever, irrespective of the position he has batted, and hasn’t inspired much confidence with his captaincy either. India have won one out of their last seven Tests - that was the only game not captained by Rohit. Gill should return at Rohit’s expense with Rahul pairing back up with Jaiswal at the top.

The all-rounder heavy XI came under heavy criticism in Melbourne, but the bowling combination that played in the fourth Test might be more suited for the fifth where spin can be expected to play a bigger role, bringing Sundar in the game with the ball. However, Akash Deep has been ruled out due to injury and Bumrah’s unprecedented workload means his body has been pushed to its limits as well. In the absence of Akash, I’d want to shore up the fast bowling resources and play all four available quicks, with Sundar missing out.

Sarah Waris, Wisden India staff writer

KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj

There has been plenty of chatter about Rohit’s place in the side - both as captain and batter. He has failed to inspire with the bat, averaging six on the tour, while his decision to open in the MCG Test - disrupting the successful pair of Jaiswal and Rahul at the top - has had its criticism as well. In his absence, Bumrah led India to the Perth win, and, at this point, India can do without him. He will be replaced by Gill, who despite the lack of runs, looked well-set at Adelaide before giving it away.

Kohli stays - he does have a Test hundred in the series - and looked disciplined in the first innings of MCG, and so does Pant, despite question marks over his shot selection and the presence of a technically sound Dhruv Jurel on the bench. Pant has been at the forefront of several Test wins of late, and it should not even be a debate to pick him.

The bowling combination is in question: Should India opt for a second spinner, which increases India’s batting depth, or pick a fourth proper seamer? Sydney has historically aided the spinners but India cannot overlook the workload on Bumrah. The match is also likely to be played under a thick cloud cover, with rain predicted for the last two days. India did not maximise their spinners in the previous Test, leaving the pace attack, or Bumrah, with plenty to do. This time, he should get some assistance.

Rahul Iyer, Wisden India staff writer

KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar/Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah (c)

Throughout the series, it can be argued India have had to take a gamble on the batting in order to fit in a fifth bowler. At this point, with nothing to lose, that is only stronger – India may as well take as many risks as possible, where the payoff is even just a marginally greater chance of winning.

Shubman Gill should come back into the XI, potentially for Rohit Sharma. There are better options than Rohit in each of the top three positions, and it can be argued even at No.6 with Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Also read: Australia announce playing XI for SCG Test, under-fire Mitchell Marsh dropped

One can try extending the same argument to Virat Kohli, but none of the alternates – Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfaraz Khan or Dhruv Jurel – seem overly convincing to me at No.4. Besides, Kohli has already shown in this series that when he comes in against an old enough ball, he still has it in him to go big. If the top-order gives him that, India can get more than solid returns from him.

With Akash Deep out injured, Prasidh Krishna would be my preferred replacement – Harshit Rana still looks quite raw at this level for that role. The fifth bowler is a toss-up between Rana playing as the fourth pacer and another spinner (Washington Sundar) alongside Jadeja.

The SCG wicket does tend to deteriorate and assist spinners in the 3rd and 4th innings, meaning Sundar becomes a viable fifth bowling option. If he is picked though, India will need to bowl him more than they did in Melbourne. If they plan to effectively use him as a batter who can bowl, they may as well pick the extra pacer rather than running the incumbent three into the ground.

This decision depends primarily on the wicket and weather conditions, so in an ideal world this call would be made only on the morning of day one, or just the previous evening.

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