Team India is currently locked in a white-ball series against New Zealand with the third and final ODI scheduled to be played on January 24 (Tuesday). Having said that, fans are already licking their lips in anticipation of watching India's red-ball series against Australia - the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The four-match Test series between India and Australia kicks off on February 09 with the first game scheduled to be played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.
Former Australia head coach Darren Lehman has urged the Baggy Greens to include Ashton Agar in the playing XI as the left-arm finger spinner can turn out to be their X-factor on Indian pitches, which offer a ton of assistance to spinners.
"Having been there, I'm probably more inclined to play finger spinners," Lehmann said on Australian radio station SENQ.
"It just gets through the air quicker and some spin and some don't. The leg-spinners sometimes spin it too much, if that makes sense... (for finger spinners) some skid on and you get beaten on the inside and you get an LBW.
"That's probably why they're looking at a finger spinner. We certainly did that four years ago (2017) and Steve O'Keefe bowled India out basically on his own in one of the last Test matches to win there.
"That's why I'd be looking at someone like an Agar, bat a little bit, bowl as that second spinner," the 52-year-old added.
If included in the playing XI, Agar is also a very capable batter and can contribute handy runs lower down the order. The pairing of Nathan Lyon and Agar can pose a lot of challenges for the Indian batters in a series that is going to be extremely crucial for India as they would want to make one final push to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final. Rohit Sharma's men are currently second on the WTC standings while the Baggy Greens are at the summit.
Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023 schedule:
1st Test at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur - February 9-13
2nd Test at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi - February 17-21
3rd Test at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala - March 1-5
4th Test at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad - March 0-13
India’s squad for first two Tests vs Australia: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav
Australia Test squad for India tour: Pat Cummins (capt), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.
