The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed the playing XI for the first Test in Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Team management showed full faith in Prithvi Shaw ahead of Shubhman Gill. Shaw and Mayank Agarwal will open for India in Adelaide. The Men in Blue will go with just one spinner and R Ashwin will take the charge in the spin. Umesh Yadav made the final cut for the third seamer along with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.
Wriddhiman Saha has earned the place ahead of Rishabh Pant as the wicket-keeper. Saha has great skills in wicketkeeping and management is looking for those crunch catches behind the stumps. Pant smashed a 73-ball hundred in the warm-up fixture but he couldn’t get the recall in the first Test.
Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, and Ajinkya Rahane will continue playing at their usual positions. At number six, India is going with Hanuma Vihari who scored a hundred in the last warm-up game against Australia A.
Here’s the final XI for the first Test:
India XI for 1st Test: Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah
