CHENNAI: Despite calls for the inclusion of KL Rahul, the right-hander is unlikely to make a comeback into the XI for the Boxing Day Test. On Wednesday, Team India had the first training session at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, three days after suffering that humiliating defeat in Adelaide. With the unprecedented collapse leaving them in crossroads, a couple of spots are under scrutiny leading up to the second Test.
With Prithvi Shaw struggling at the top and Wriddhiman Saha having a forgettable outing, it looked like a few spots may open, over and above the two forced ones thanks to Virat Kohli's paternity leave and Mohammed Shami's injury. In that context, including Rahul would make the batting stronger but what's working against him is the lack of matches with the red ball. Since being dropped from the Test side, Rahul has played only one long format match and that was for Karnataka back in March, where he made scores of 26 & 0 against Bengal.
While his form in limited-overs has been exceptional, the think-tank believes there is still work to be done when it comes to Tests. In that regard 21-year-old Shubman Gill is above him in the pecking order thanks to to his impressive outing against Australia A. However, in case Gill gets to make his debut in Melbourne, India are yet to take a call on where to play him. Despite looking out of sorts at Adelaide, Prithvi Shaw could still retain his spot in case India decide to go with just four bowlers, with Gill at No 4.
Thanks to the drop-in pitch, the MCG has offered slow tracks in recent times, which is why the visitors think playing five bowlers would be apt. If that's the case, Ravindra Jadeja could come in as a straight swap, with Hanuma Vihari at No 4. Gill then would take Shaw's place at the top.
These changes aside, there are still question marks surrounding the inclusion of Rishabh Pant. The left-hander has been India's preferred option in overseas Tests, but they went against it in Adelaide as Saha was chosen because of his experience of keeping with the pink ball. But the Bengal stumper looked out of sorts with the bat. While the latter definitely offers something different as a left-hander, he also has a century in
Australia, and also scored an unbeaten 103 in the practice match. However, there are fitness concerns surrounding Pant. He was told to work on improving his fitness. While he did keep wickets in the practice match, whether it has convinced the team management to hand him the gloves remains to be seen.
As far as a replacement for Shami goes, Hyderabad pacer Mohammed Siraj seems to be the front-runner ahead of Navdeep Saini. In 38 first-class matches, Siraj has picked up 152 wickets at an average of 23.44 at an impressive strike-rate of 44.9.