A four-match Test series will be played between India and Australia in February-March. The BCCI has announced the Indian team for the first two Test matches. Captain Rohit Sharma, who did not play in the Test series against Bangladesh due to injury, has returned.
At the same time, Ishaan Kishan has been included as wicketkeeper in place of Rishabh Pant, who was injured in the car accident. KS Bharat will be the second wicketkeeper. Apart from this, Suryakumar Yadav, who exploded in T20 cricket, has also been kept in the Test team.
Since coming to the Test team of these two, speculations are being made that Team India will display aggressive cricket against Australia. The series against Australia is very important for Team India in order to qualify for the final of the World Test Championship.
The Indian team will have to win at least two matches in this series. If the series is lost, Team India will be in danger of being eliminated from the final of the World Test Championship. In such a situation, two of India’s explosive batsmen have been included in the team.
Even before the Test series against Bangladesh last month, the team management had said that the Indian team would now play aggressive cricket. In the points table of the World Test Championship, the Australian team is currently on top and India is at number two. To reach the final, India will have to beat Australia at any cost. With the arrival of Surya and Ishaan in the team, it is now being speculated that the Indian team will also display the ‘Baseball Effect’.
In fact, the new strategy of the England cricket team has been called the ‘Baseball Effect’. Effect means effect. That is, the ‘Badge Ball’ strategy affected the England team. The word badge also came into the limelight because the new England coach Brendon McCullum’s nickname is ‘Badge’.
McCullum had said as soon as he became the coach that the England team would now play more aggressively. Along with this, he had said that the English team will play to chase instead of defending, no matter how big the score is in the fourth innings. This strategy was called badge ball. This new strategy of England proved to be effective and the team is continuously winning Test matches.
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Now with the inclusion of Suryakumar and Ishaan, Team India can also adopt the same strategy to counter Australia. The Australian team is in excellent form at the moment. He has played 15 matches in the 2021-23 World Test Championship cycle, winning 10 of them. The Kangaroo team has lost only one match and drawn four matches. In such a situation, this series is going to be very difficult for India. The first two Tests of the series will be played in Nagpur and Delhi.
In domestic cricket, Suryakumar’s form in the red ball format has been excellent. Suryakumar has scored 5549 runs in 79 first class matches at an average of 44.75 and a strike rate of 63.56. This includes 14 centuries and 28 half-centuries. Surya has also bowled in first class cricket and has taken 24 wickets.
Suryakumar made his first-class debut in 2010 and has a lot of experience with him. Suryakumar has been in excellent form in T20 recently. Recently in the T20 match against Sri Lanka, he scored his third international century of this format. 200 runs is his highest innings in first class cricket.
At the same time, Kishan, who plays domestic cricket for Jharkhand, made his first-class debut in 2014 against Assam. He has scored 2985 runs in 48 matches at an average of 38.76. In November 2016, he scored an inning of 273 runs against Delhi. It is his highest first-class innings.
Ishaan recently scored a double century in ODIs. He became only the fourth batsman to score a double century for India in ODIs. Pant used to play the role of aggressive batsman in the Test team, but after his injury, Surya and Ishaan are the perfect options to play this role.
Talking about the World Test Championship, India’s team remains at the second position in the points table by scoring 58.93 per cent marks. If India wins all the four matches against Australia, then it will have 68.06 per cent points. In this situation, Team India will easily reach the finals.
However, this series was won by a narrow margin. India can reach the final even if they win, But the teams of Sri Lanka and South Africa are also in the race for the final. In such a situation, if India loses the series, Sri Lanka or South Africa can win the rest of their matches and play the final. The WTC final is sponsored by The Oval in England in June. India and Australia may once again face in the final.
India’s squad for the first two Tests against Australia
Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Akshar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami , Mo. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.