Possible Changes in the Playing XI
Mohammad Shami was given a rest during the third test against Australia in the ongoing Border – Gavaskar trophy, and unfortunately, India lost that test very badly. While Shami was the part of playing XI for the first two tests and the first two tests India won, so one can say that Mohammad Shami is a lucky charm for Team India in the test matches.
We all know that World Test Championship is going to be held in June and Australia has already qualified for that final. Whereas one team is yet to be decided against Australia and that could either be Sri Lanka or India.
The chances of Sri Lanka qualifying is bit grim as they are dependent on India’s winning or losing of the 4th test starting at Ahmedabad from 9th March.
If India loses the 4th Test then also Sri Lanka has to win both matches against New Zealand in New Zealand which is a daunting task.
So for Team India, the 4th match is very significant for qualifying for WTC against Australia and hence to get the winning combination back, Captain Rohit may make a couple of changes in the playing XI that played the 3rd test.
He may include Mohammad Shami back in place of either Mohammad Shiraj or Umesh Yadav. The other possible and most likely change seems to be KS Bharat, who has not been able to make any impression with the bat. It is to be noted that KS Bharat got the chance to play as Rishabh Pant is not available. KS Bharat is not able to fill the foot of Rishabh Pant as Pant was playing at an average of 60+ against Australia, whereas KS Bharat is playing under the average of only 15.
So Rohit-Rahul may give chance to Ishan Kishan in place of KS Bharat and Mohammad Shami in place of either Shiraj or Umesh.
Probable Indian playing XI
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubhman Gill, Chitestwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (WKT), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav/Mohammad Shiraj
Probable Australian Playing XI
Steve Smith (c), Alex Carey (wkt), Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc
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