Sunil Gavaskar has provided solutions to two of India’s selection dilemmas ahead of the first Test of the four-match series — the Day-Night encounter against Australia in Adelaide from Thursday.
As Virat Kohli and Co. reach Adelaide, the few questions that will be on their minds include the opening combination and who will don the big gloves — Wriddhiman Saha or Rishabh Pant.
Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw played in the last Test in New Zealand but the latter’s poor form has put his place in doubt. Gavaskar believes it has opened the gates for Shubman Gill’s debut.
“Gill should open since he has shown good form. Allan Border was also impressed with what he saw from Gill during the tour match in Sydney. He should open with Mayank,” Gavaskar replied to a query from The Telegraph during an interaction on Monday afternoon.
He also felt the Indian team management would pick Pant ahead of Saha. “A tough one for the tour selection committee because Rishabh played in all four Tests two years ago, scored a hundred and got under the skin of some of the Aussie players with his chirping.
“I guess the team will look to have him when you are just coming off a hundred in the tour game. Also, they would like to strengthen their batting. I hope he bats at No. 6 because that allows you to pick five bowlers,” Gavaskar said.
The former India captain thinks Mayank will be the one to watch out for in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which will be shown live on Sony Six, Sony Ten 1 and Sony Ten 3.
“For me the player to watch out for will be Mayank... He came to Australia during the last two Tests of the last tour. He was stepping out to Nathan Lyon and lifting him straight. India weren’t sure how to tackle him and he showed the way.
“The freshness of youth was evident. He has only gone from strength to strength since. Look at the season he had last year. He got double hundreds against South Africa. He’s the guy I’m looking forward to,” Gavaskar remarked.
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He also picked Marnus Labuschagne for special mention. “From Australia, I am looking at Labuschagne, the new kid on the block. When Sachin Tendulkar says he reminds him of his own batting, man that’s an ominous sign for bowlers around the world, not just India.”
Border regarded Jasprit Bumrah highly. “I’m a huge fan of Bumrah if he keeps himself fit. He’s one guy who can win you games on our pitches. There will be uncertainty over how the (pink) ball behaves under lights,” Border said.
“Over the four Tests he can make a little difference and ruffle a few feathers. Your batting line-up will get enough runs, it’s just that you need to take the 20 wickets. Bumrah’s lethal when he gets his rhythm going,” Border said.
Gavaskar said Kohli’s absence after the first Test could serve as a motivating factor for the team. “When Border and I were chatting a few months ago, I was pretty confident that Kohli would stay but that was before the dates were changed. No doubt it will be a huge boost for Australia. Remember the man has scored six hundreds from 12 Tests in Australia,” Gavaskar recalled.
“That said, as far as the Indians are concerned, every time he hasn’t played, India have won. In Dharamsala, he was not available in the deciding Test against Australia, then for the inaugural Test versus Afghanistan.
“India won the Asia Cup and then the Nidahas Trophy without him. As a team, they lift themselves up to make up for his absence.” Will Pucovski’s injury has put the home team in trouble and Border said that’s a problem with the youngster. “Pucovski has this problem with getting hit on the helmet and getting concussed. I don’t know what we’ve got to do,” he said.
Gavaskar put it down to technical issues. “I think it has more to do with front press where everyone is technically moving forward and difficult to ride the bounce on the back foot. So most of the players are on the front foot and can’t transfer the weight on to the back foot and get out of the way. As a batsman you tend to get a bit locked.”
