Team India plays 11 for the 1st Test against Australia:: Sunil Gavaskar and Allan Border picked Shubman Gill over Prithvi Shaw on Monday to open the innings with Mayank Agarwal at the Adelaide day-night test on December 17th.
Since there is no Rohit Sharma in the squad, the question arises of who should support Mayank Agarwal as the opener. Should it be Prithvi Shaw or Shubman Gill? Or should KL Rahul be promoted as an opener?
Gavaskar & Border both believe Shubman Gill should be India’s choice for the opening slot over Shaw or anyone else.
“I think he does [Shaw] needs to spend a little more time assessing his eyelashes. As an opening batsman, you have to give yourself time to see what the field and the bowlers are doing. “ Gavaskar said during a virtual media interaction. “Trying to hit the way he is hitting isn’t going to make him a consistent player. Yes, he’ll do runs every now and then, but he needs to step up his defenses. “
Shaw also interrupted Border’s criticism for playing a few too many punches. He was out for 0, 19, 40 and 3 in his four games in the two tour games.
Border repeated Gavaskar’s views and also praised Gill. “It seems to me that he [Shaw] every ball plays one shot. I think the new ball looks good on flat tracks, but in Australia you have to be a little more careful about your shots. It seems a bit loose outside of the tree stump.
“I’ve been to Sydney for the past few days and I’ve seen your boys walking around. Yeah, I was impressed with Gill. I really think there is something about him – his technique. I know he’s young so he can play a few rash punches here and there, but he looks like a seriously good player. He will be my choice [for the opener’s position] from the guys I’ve seen “
Gill played in both India’s warm-up games leading up to the First Test and was in good shape at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) at 43 and 65.
Watch the Border Gavaskar test series live and exclusively on the Sony Six, Sony Ten 1 and Sony Ten 3 (Hindi) channels from December 17th from 8:30 a.m.
Gavaskar & Border, who should choose India for the wicketkeeping role between Saha and Pant?
India team coach Ravi Shastri may have hailed Wriddhiman Saha as the one “Best wicketkeeper in the world” in 2019, but Gavaskar thinks Pant should score a hundred points – under lights – in the final Tour game should the left-handed break in at least for the first Test in India XI.
“Pant played in all four tests two years ago and a hundred too. He seems to have got under the skin of some Australian players with his chirping behind the stumps. He also got a 100 in the practice game, so he would be the management’s choice. “ Said Gavaskar.
Pant has been India’s wicketkeeper on the last three overseas tours to England, Australia and New Zealand and was the first Indian wicketkeeper to complete Test Centuries in England and Australia in the 2018-19 season.
Gavaskar senses that the conditions and uncertainty surrounding India’s top order are tipping the scales in Pant’s favor. “Here because India is going to be playing the pacemaker so you can lag behind and have so much more time from 15 meters behind the stumps … even at the top of the list, India seems a bit shaky so they’d want to step up their eyelashes “ Said Gavaskar.
“But when you play on fields where the goalkeeper has to withstand the stumps where the ball spins a bit, you usually have your best goalkeeper. In that case, Saha would be the obvious choice.”
