India has lost their series opener of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and they are gearing up for an important Boxing Day Test. And, it is said that there will be a number of changes in the team from the one that took the field in Adelaide. Gautam Gambhir, who is quite critical about his opinion has picked his playing 11 for the upcoming affair that will be played at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
India was bundled out for a score of 36 runs in the 2nd innings of the 1st Test. None of the Indian batsmen could manage to register double figures respectively. The fans are quite angry with the performance of Team India for their poor show in Adelaide. The team management is tipped to take some harsh calls and pick a perfect playing XI for the 2nd Test.
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Gautam Gambhir Picks India’s Playing 11 For Boxing Day Test
Gautam Gambhir picked his playing 11 ahead for the Boxing Day Test. He is a big admirer of Prithvi Shaw but he wants Shubhman Gill to open the innings alongside Mayank Agarwal. The 39-year-old feels the 21-year-old is currently going through a rough patch in batting. He added that Cheteshwar Pujara should continue batting at number three. The former player wants Ajinkya Rahane to bat at number 4 followed by KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant.
“I will want to see Rahane at No.4. I will not want to see Rahane stay at No.5 because if he is the captain now, he has to lead from the front. So, Rahane should play at No.4 in the place of Virat Kohli. KL Rahul should play at No.5 and Rishabh Pant should play at No.6.”
The southpaw also expects Ravindra Jadeja to get fit and replace Hanuma Vihari. The latter failed to score runs with the bat in the 1st Test. Gautam Gambhir asserted that Team India should go with five bowling options instead of four.
“Jadeja and Ashwin should play at No.7 and No.8 and then three seamers. I will want to go in with five bowlers.”
Gautam Gambhir’s XI For Boxing Day Test: Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (C), KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini/Mohammed Siraj
