The stage is set for the all-important Border-Gavaskar Test series where the cricket giants India and Australia will be battling out for the coveted glory as the slugfest which will be played between February 9 to March 13.
Meanwhile, right ahead of the series opener in Nagpur on February 9 (Thursday), India's vice-captain talked about the conundrum to decide India's playing XI. However he has said that the call on the final XI will be taken on the match day after taking a stock of Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) stadium's pitch.
It has been learnt that a spin-friendly pitch will be dished out for the series opener which might see a prospect of playing three Indian spinners.
Rahul also said that there’s temptation to pack eleven with spinners, it’s not a given.
“There will be a temptation to play three spinners because of the turning track in India but we would know the pitch on the day of the game," Rahul said during a media interaction in Nagpur on Tuesday.
India will be without Rishabh Pant (recovering from accident) and Shreyas Iyer is also a doubtful starter meaning there are at least a couple of spots available. Not decided on playing XI, tough decision, couple of vacancies are there," Rahul added.
The 30-year-old was also posed with a question whether Indian batters will be seen with the Bazball approach in the Tests to which he said,"If situation demands us to play free shots we will go for it otherwise we stick to the regular Test cricket batting template. It is basically trying to work out a plan between the batters in the middle."
Rahul also said that practice match wouldn’t have made much of a difference for a quality side like Australia.
“Australian team not playing practice games won’t make much of a difference, they are a quality side and they would have prepared well," he said.
The Australian XI will be packed with left-handers in David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Travis Head and then Ashton Agar lower down the order. Rahul feels it will be exciting to see Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Siraj have a got at them.
“Australia having so many left handers - it will be a challenge for our bowlers. Not many teams have 6-7 left handed batters. Siraj and Ashwin will be excited to have a crack," he said.
There’s been a lot of hype around this tour considering this is the first time Australia have visited India for Tests since back-to-back series defeats at home against the same opponent. Additionally, they haven’t won a Test series on Indian soil since 2004.
Rahul isn’t reading too much into the hype.
“(It’s) a must win series, When it is India vs Australia it always is. It’s no different than any other Border-Gavaskar series, eyes are on WTC as well," he said.
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 9-13
India’s squad for the 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.
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