There is a growing perception that India have a good chance of retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since the Melbourne and Sydney wickets are expected to favour the Indian bowlers, especially the spinners.
Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane are considered Australian cricket strongholds and the Indians have managed to keep the series even so far.
Melbourne brings happy memories since they won the Tests there on the last two occasions in 2018-19 and 2020-21, while Sydney traditionally brings the spinners into play.
India played both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in their last Test at the MCG. The spinners had accounted for eight wickets in the match as the Ajinkya Rahane-led side bounced back to win by eight wickets and level the series 1-1. Even Nathan Lyon had claimed three wickets.
It’s still not certain if Washington Sundar will play alongside Jadeja since that will mean Nitish Reddy, the third-highest run-getter in the series after KL Rahul and
Yashasvi Jaiswal, has to sit out. Or will India go for a fourth seamer?
India have already called up young Mumbai off-spinner Tanush Kotian, who will join the side in Melbourne on Wednesday evening.
“Yeah, Tanush was here a month back. Kuldeep (Yadav), I don’t think has a visa. We wanted somebody to get here as quickly as possible. Tanush was the one who was ready. That’s just a joke. He played here. He is good enough.
“He has shown what he has done in the last 1–2 years in domestic cricket. And we really wanted a back-up in case we need two spinners playing here or Sydney, you need a back-up option,” captain Rohit Sharma explained in his inimitable style during the pre-match news conference
on Tuesday.
“Kuldeep, obviously, he is not 100 per cent fit, he went through hernia surgery. And the other options like Axar (Patel)... Axar recently had a baby, he was not going to travel. Tanush was the right option for us. He has certainly shown at the domestic level what he is capable of. He is probably one of the reasons why Mumbai won the Ranji Trophy last year. He played a major role as an all-rounder. Very good option for us, all areas are covered,” Rohit said.
It is the bowling combination that has kept India in two minds ahead of the Boxing Day Test beginning Thursday. Jasprit Bumrah hasn’t got much support at the other end leading to instability in the attack.
Bumrah has taken almost as many wickets as the rest combined (21 vs 26) and neither Mohammed Siraj nor Akash Deep has been consistent. If Washington comes in place of Reddy, he can help ease the workload on the frontline quicks. Having played the series opener, Washington already has 17 overs under his belt, which have gone for 2.88 runs per over and fetched two wickets.
Australia have much less headache to deal with. Coach Andrew McDonald allayed fears on the availability of Travis Head who endured a minor quad strain while batting in the second innings in Brisbane and was not on the field for India’s brief second innings (of 2.1 overs) before rain arrived.
Head has since trained at the MCG in the lead-up to the fourth Test, and McDonald believes he’ll pull through.
He also confirmed the inclusion of young Sam Konstas in the XI for the MCG game.
Opener Usman Khawaja continues to struggle for runs but McDonald trusts the left-hander to “return to the runs” over the course of the next two Tests.
