Saini to make his Test debut at SCG

India have announced their playing XI for the third Test match which is to be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney beginning from Thursday (Jan 07). This is very unlike India as they have third time in a row announced their playing XI a day ahead of the Test match!

Pacer Umesh Yadav pulled out while bowling his 4th over in Australia’s second innings at MCG and did not come on to the field later. Scans later revealed a calf strain which ruled him out of the series. And that injury opened the doors for a promising young pacer Navdeep Saini who is set to make his debut in the Sydney Test match. Someone’s pain is someone’s gain!

On the other hand, Rohit Sharma joined the squad just after the MCG Test and had passed all fitness tests to be available for the SCG Test. Opener Shubman Gill (45 & 35) proved his worth with the bat courtesy too many drop catches at MCG. So, India decided to drop another opener Mayank Agarwal who scored 5 (0 & 5) runs at MCG. Remember, Agarwal played well at Adelaide Oval in the first Test where others struggled! Just one bad Test match and it proved costly for him! It would be eager to see how this decision is going to pan out!

India made only two changes to their playing XI from the second Test match. Cheteshwar Pujara scored just 20 runs at MCG and Hanuma Vihari too failed to put up a show with the bat. They need to step up for India to have a strong batting line-up. Ravichandran Ashwin already dismissed Steven Smith twice in 3 innings this series so far and that is one great battle to watch out for at Sydney.

For the record, Australia won the first Test match of the series at Adelaide Oval while India won the second Test match at MCG. Incidentally, the win margin in both the Tests was identical –  ‘8 wickets’. The third Test match at SCG is going to be crucial now as the winner takes lead in the series. The four-match series is now currently level 1-1 with 2 more games to go.

India Playing XI for SCG Test match: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Navdeep Saini (debut), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj