India rings in changes ahead of the ‘Boxing Day Test’, get set for a BLOCKBUSTER!

Boxing Day test matches in Australia are a part of the Aussie culture, and an annual tradition dating back some 70 odd years. It means a test match played between Australia and a visiting team at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) and starts on the 26th of December every year.

Boxing day test MCG

STORY SO FAR

India will go into this Boxing Day test match with a 1–0 deficit and a lot of vacillation about which eleven to pick for this match, after all it’s not everyday that you get skittled out for 36. To make matters worse for the Indians, they will also miss the services of two of their best players. Virat Kohli, their talisman and captain courageous, has opted out of the rest of the tour to be with his wife, who is expecting. And, Md Shami is out of the series with a broken arm that he suffered at the hands of Pat Cummins, talk about adding insult to injury!

Australia on the other hand would consider themselves extremely lucky that they first, were able to get close, within 53 runs, of the Indian first innings total and second, had a morning of cricket where every single thing went their way. This Austrian team is not the great Austrian team of the late 90’s or the one from the first decade of this century.

This Australian team has a fragile opening pair, and every single time they fall early they invite the opposition bowlers to attack Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith.

If India had held on to their catches in the first innings, and managed even a half decent score in the second innings, they would have had Australia in a lot of trouble. But cricket is not a game of ifs and buts, and credit must go to Australia that they fought their way back into the match, a trait that Australian cricket teams have in their DNA is that they are fighters. The way their bottom order contributes day in and out is applaud worthy. Also the effort that Cummins and Hazelwood bowled with on the third day morning, a lot of quality pacers wouldn’t have been able to, so credit to Australia on both those points.

(Left) Wreckers in chief. (Right) The Indian captain is gone.

WHAT ELEVEN SHOULD BOTH TEAMS PLAY IN THIS TEST MATCH

Australia rarely changes a winning team. So, unless there is an injury they will go with the same team as the first test.

Australian Eleven

Joe Burns, Matthew Wade, Marcus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Tim Paine, Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Josh Hazelwood, Nathan Lyon.

Indian Eleven: The Changes

1. Prithvi Shaw doesn’t merit a place in this side anymore. His technique is all over the place and in all honesty dropping him right now might actually save his career. So who replaces Shaw in the eleven? Shubhman Gill should replace Shaw, but he should bat at 3. The opening pair for India at Melbourne should be Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara. Gill is better off not opening the innings in these conditions, as the new guy coming in he should have some leeway.
2. KL Rahul should replace Kohli in the eleven but bat at no 5. Ajinkya Rahane the captain, who is also due for a big resounding knock, should bat up the order at 4. A positive move like this bolsters the morale of the team and also sends a message of intent to the opposition.
3. Ravi Jadeja must replace Hanuma Vihari at number 6. Jadeja as he has shown ample number of times, is a fighter. And this Indian test team lacks fighting spirit, they crumble too easily. A personality like Jadeja should be a fixture at number six for India, today and in the years to come.
4. Wriddhiman Saha disappointed in the last test match. As the senior most member in this team, he should have put his hand up and taken responsibility, but he failed in both the innings. What accentuated his failure more was that his opposite number Tim Paine scored those 73 brilliant runs, a knock which turned the match around. Rishabh Pant needs to come in and replace Saha.
5. The loss of Md. Shami is a big one. And no one in this current Indian squad can replace him in the true sense of the word. But, someone who might come close in terms of bowling style is Navdeep Saini. He too, like Shami, tries to land the ball on the seam and extract movement off the seam. Md Siraj could have been another option, but he is an outswing bowler similar to Umesh Yadav, so Saini gets the nod ahead of him.

So the INDIAN ELEVEN looks like this.

Mayan Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman Gill, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, Ravi Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Ravi Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, U. Yadav, N. Saini.

(Left) Jadeja will bring his trademark sword celebration, and more importantly a lot of fight in the Indian team. (Right) KL Rahul made his test debut in a boxing day test here in Adelaide 6 years ago, can he be the man for the job for India this time around?

THE INDIAN GAME PLAN

Batting: India while batting must make sure they don’t lose more than 1 wicket in the first 20–25 overs. After that, once the shine is off, batting becomes comparatively much easier in Australia. Pujara, if he opens, must bat through those many balls, and Mayank must do the same. Don’t worry about scoring in the first hour of the day, just defend, if you survive, you can bring out your shots later.

Bowling: Keep doing more of the same to the top order, as in the first test match. And once you get to the tailenders, keep bowling to them the same way as you bowled to the batsmen before them. There is no extra planning needed, or special field setting required, just keep doing the same things.

#MyPrediction

A true sportsman or woman lives to show the world his or her real worth. And this is a perfect opportunity for the Indian eleven to show the world that without Kohli or Shami they can still win this.

These are the moments where boys become men, and men legends.

If India shows positivity and intent in the plans they have set, and end up executing them, then they will be difficult to stop. But if they are indecisive, timid and under confident, the Aussies will hone in for the kill and make it 2–0. Nevertheless, it will make for some exciting viewing.