KEY POINTS

  • Saha was picked ahead of Pant as the wicketkeeper for 1st Test
  • The first Test, starting Thursday, will be played in Adelaide
  • Ashwin will be India's lone specialist spinner 

Prithvi Shaw will open with Mayank Agarwal on Thursday as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced Virat Kohli-led India's playing XI for the first Test against Australia.

In the lead up to the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, there had been a lot of talk about Indian openers, wicketkeeper and the third fast bowler to team up with the duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. While Wriddhiman Saha was picked ahead of Rishabh Pant for the day-night Test, India went with experienced Umesh Yadav, instead of giving a chance either to Mohammad Siraj or Navdeep Saini, who are yet to make a Test debut. Ravichandran Ashwin was picked as a sole specialist spinner for the Adelaide game.

Pant missed out despite scoring a 73-ball 101 in the pink ball tour match against Australia A at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) last week. Saha scored a duck in the first innings, but he did not get a chance to bat in the second innings. While Pant did not play the first tour game, Saha had a duck in the first game too, but he had also scored an unbeaten half-century in the following innings.

India's middle-order looks solid, consisting of Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari.

The first Test will be Kohli's only appearance in the Australian summer in the ongoing tour as he will return to India after the game to be with his wife for the birth of their first child. In his absence, his deputy in the longest format, Ajinkya Rahane, will take over the charge, and Kohli is confident the Mumbai cricketer will do a "tremendous job".

"Ajinkya and I are on the same page and I'm sure he'll do a tremendous job in my absence," Kohli said in a virtual press conference on the eve of the first Test in Australia.

Virat Kohli's men are scheduled to contest a four Test series in Australia towards the end of the year but will need to quarantine for two weeks under current COVID-19 rules
Virat Kohli is the current Indian captain across all the formats of the game. AFP / Marty MELVILLE

The remaining three Tests are scheduled to be played in Melbourne (Dec. 26-30), Sydney (Jan. 7-11) and Brisbane (Jan. 15-19).

When the last time India toured Australia, in 2018-19, Kohli and Co. triumphed in the Test series, defeating the hosts 2-1 in the Border-Gavaskar series.

India's Playing XI for 1st Test vs Australia: Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah.

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