As expected, there was plenty of discussion and debate around the final picks.

One of those was the choice of the second opener alongside Rohit Sharma, who unanimously found a spot at the top of the team. The options discussed were Dimuth Karunaratne, Tom Latham, and the idea of bumping up a non-opener (Marnus Labuschagne here) to create room in a middle order packed with options.

Here are some excerpts from the discussion:

BG: Our second opener’s slot though, there was quite a bit of a debate. Kind of a philosophical debate, I guess, over what you should do when constructing these teams: do we go for a specialist opener, or do we fit an extra middle-order player. I suppose, to an extent, it depends on who the other opener is. Aadya, you went for Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne. Do you want to make the case for him?

AS: See, I do want to include him because he’s been so good recently, but that bias comes from his recent form and it has got a lot to do with his last five innings or so. That really inflates his average. But he’s been so good: averaging 60 in the last one-and-a half years. Of course, the only concern lies is in how good he is away from home, and that does cast a bit of doubt in my head as well.

BG:  If we were going for a specialist opener, my shout would be Tom Latham, who doesn’t have a great record over the last couple of years, but if I think we were picking this team at the end of 2019, start of 2020, he would be bang right back in there.

Taha, you went a different way. Do you want to let us know who you went for?

TH: I like the Latham argument. He’s also a key part of the best Test team in the world. I went for Marnus just because I was trying to fit in all those middle-order guys and he is Australia’s No.3, averages 70 [71.42] at three beyond the already incredible [overall] average of 60, and I kind of had to get him in somewhere and that’s the only place I could find. Rohit’s case is overwhelming because of what he’s done… the cases of two of the others we are talking about aren’t at that level. [Labuschagne] averages 60 in Test cricket, does even better overall at No.3. That’s how I got there.

BG: And he can probably face the new ball. I imagine we will end up with Marnus, because you end up realising who you will have to leave out to let Latham in, and that sort of becomes a silly decision in a way.

TH: The only sort of argument I was having with myself, with Marnus, was that he hasn’t played a lot of Test cricket away from home. Australia haven’t played an away Test since the 2019 Ashes. Then again, he was very good in that series.

BG: He was brilliant when he came in that 2019 Ashes and has gone to another level. He didn’t get into your team, Aadya. What do you have up against Marnus?

AS: I think the same thing Taha mentioned about the away record and how we haven’t seen enough of him. I think I was looking to somehow put in two specialist openers, so that really made it difficult to push Marnus in. But, hey, I love to watch him bat.

The panel eventually went with Labuschagne to make the following XI:

Rohit Sharma, Marnus Labuschagne, Joe Root, Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, Mohammad Rizwan, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pat Cummins, James Anderson, Jasprit Bumrah

You can watch the full discussion here: