NEWS
Follow UsIndia are on course to field a rather inexperienced XI for the first Border-Gavaskar Test starting November 22 in Perth. This is due to players' unavailability due to injury concerns and skipper Rohit Sharma staying back home with family after the birth of his second child.
While Jasprit Bumrah will lead India in Perth, the Men in Blue may also hand a Test debut to Nitish Kumar Reddy with Dhruv Jurel and Devdutt Padikkal likely to be part of the XI for what would be their first away Test. A spot for Padikkal opened up after Shubman Gill received a blow to his thumb while fielding in slips during simulated match practice.
"Shubman is improving every day, obviously picked up a nasty blow in the mock game, in the squad game,” said India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel in the press conference on Wednesday (November 20). “I think with him it's going to be a day-to-day sort of process, fingers crossed for that improvement, but I think they'll wait, make a call with him up until the morning of the other day's match," Morkel added, informing that Gill is not yet ruled out of the Perth Test. However, his chances are slim.
Meanwhile, Nitish’s secondary skill, seam-up bowling, can bring him a Test cap given the anticipated fast-bowling-friendly conditions in Perth. The 21-year-old has 56 first-class wickets in 23 matches at 26.98 runs apiece. Morkel reckons Nitish will have an important role to play in India’s bowling fortunes in Perth as an additional seamer.
"[Nitish] is one of the young guys that we've mentioned, he's got that sort of batting, all-round ability,” Morkel began to shed light on the 21-year-old’s role.
“He'll be a guy that can sort of hold that one end up first. He hits the bat a little bit harder than you think. So in these sort of conditions where there might be a little bit of seam movement up front, especially the first couple of days. He'll be a very accurate wicket-to-wicket style of bowler. It's a lovely opportunity for him to hold that all-rounder spot.
"Any team in the world always wanted the allrounder to take that load off your fast bowlers, just to give them an extra bit of breathing time. So how we use him, how Jasprit is going to use him, with maybe the spinner, to give himself, whoever's going to be the other quicks, time to catch their breath a little bit is going to be important. He's a guy that is a player you can keep your eye on in this series,” Morkel elaborated.
Morkel also highlighted the absence of Mohammed Shami as a big miss on the tour. Among India’s leading wicket-takers in the recent past, Shami suffered an Achilles tendon injury on his left leg and underwent a surgery that kept him out of action for 11 months.
He recently returned to competitive cricket, featuring in Bengal’s Ranji Trophy fixture against Madhya Pradesh in Indore and picked seven wickets, bowling 44 overs. He is now named in Bengal’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy squad and the Indian team management is hopeful that he would be part of this upcoming five-match Test series in some capacity.
“We are keeping a close eye on Shami. He is a world-class bowler. But at the same time, he has been out of the game for almost a year. For us, it is a massive win that he is back playing. It is great that he picked up wickets in that first game. How can we give him the best support to find his way back into the team, it is going to be by being patient and giving his body time to find its feet again whether it is white ball or red ball cricket,” Morkel spoke on Shami’s possible return.
In his absence, Mohammed Siraj and Bumrah are the only Indian pacers with experience of playing Test cricket in Australia.
“I think they add a lot of variation to their attack, especially Harshit [Rana], who bowls at a good pace, finds a way to also extract some bounce out of the surface.
"It's their first tour, Prasidh [Krishna] had a bit of experience with India A tour where he had a bit of game time, but for Harshit it's a bit of an unknown. My message to him was just, when I toured my first time here, playing in Australia, an intimidating place, to listen to the stories, take their advice. But for me it's just staying in your own bubble and finding those experiences, work them out for yourself,” Morkel said.
The first Test will be played in Perth, starting on November 22 with the action then moving to Adelaide for the second Test starting on December 6 which would be a day-night fixture.
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