As the highly anticipated 2024-25 Border Gavaskar Trophy gets closer, here's Wisden's predicted XI for India for the first Test against Australia at Perth.
India's squad for the five-match Test series in Australia was announced during the course of the second India-New Zealand Test in Pune, which the hosts lost, succumbing to their first home Test series defeat in 12 years. With just one more Test in the ongoing series to go, the focus has well and truly started to shift to India's next assignment in the longest format, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The first of the five Test matches will be played at the Optus Stadium in Perth, starting on November 22. Four Test matches have been played at the venue so far, with Australia winning all four of them. Pace has dominated spin by a fair margin in those four games, with seamers bowling 72 per cent of all balls bowled so far. The quicks have naturally also taken more wickets, 102 as compared to the spinners' 37, but their bowling averages don't differ by a lot, with fast bowlers averaging 29.71 runs per wicket and spinners averaging 33.18. Keeping the conditions in mind, here is how India might line up for the first Test.
India's squad for Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Top order
Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal are certainties at the top. However, there are some question marks over Rohit's availability for one or two Tests in the series, although it's not clear which Tests he might miss. India have picked the in-form but uncapped Abhimanyu Easwaran in the squad as the reserve opener. While there might be temptations to move KL Rahul, who has successfully opened in Test matches outside Asia in the past, up the order in case Rohit misses the series-opener, the Indian management has clarified that they view Rahul as a middle order batter, which should pave the way for Easwaran's long-awaited Test debut. Shubman Gill, meanwhile, should hold on to his No.3 spot.
Rohit Sharma/Abhimanyu Easwaran, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill
Middle order
Despite his middling returns this year, Kohli will occupy the No.4 spot and hope to find his Test form back in a country where he averages 54.08 with four hundreds from 13 Tests. Rishabh Pant at No.5 will arguably be India's most important batter, having already played a heroic role in their triumph on these shores last time around.
At No.6, India preferred Sarfaraz Khan over Rahul for the Pune Test and might do the same for the Mumbai Test against New Zealand. However, given Rahul's experience playing in Australian conditions and Sarfaraz's perceived weakness against quality pace and bounce, the management might decide to go horses-for-courses with the batting lineup for a change, and pick Rahul ahead of Sarfaraz irrespective of how the latter goes in the third Test against New Zealand.
Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul
Spinners
As the numbers suggest, spin does not play a huge role at the Optus Stadium in Perth, at least not as big as pace. The last time India played here, they went in with an all-seam attack with Hanuma Vihari being the only part-time spin option. India have also settled into a balance for SENA Tests where they pick four fast bowlers and one spinner (mostly Ravindra Jadeja), which they will most likely follow for the Perth Test as well.
No left-arm spinner has taken a wicket yet at this venue in Test matches. Jadeja would be competing with R Ashwin and Washington Sundar, who is coming off a 11-wicket haul in Pune and played a starring role in India's famous Gabba victory last time around. But his superior batting skills, combined with his experience should tilt the scales in his favour for the No.7 role.
Ravindra Jadeja
Seam bowlers
Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Akash Deep will almost certainly pick themselves as the three main quicks. For the fourth, India would ideally want someone who could give them some batting at No.8. There are two fast bowlers in the squad who can bat, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana, both uncapped at the Test level.
While Reddy is the better batter, Rana is the better bowler. But a tail of Rana, Bumrah, Siraj, and Akash Deep would be frought with too much risk, and given this management's affinity towards batting depth, there are decent chances that Reddy might make his Test debut at No.8 in Perth. Prasidh Krishna is the other fast bowling option in the squad, but he's not ahead of Bumrah, Siraj and Akash Deep in the pecking order, and his lack of batting skills make him an unsuitable candidate for No.8.
Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd Siraj, Akash Deep
