With Rohit Sharma back in the Indian squad, Mayank Agarwal will seemingly be dropped from India’s playing XI against Australia in the third Test at Sydney. Mayank Agarwal went phut while opening for India in the first two Tests and it won’t be a tough decision for skipper Ajinkya Rahane to replace Punjab’s opener with Hit-man Sharma.
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IND vs AUS: Sunil Gavaskar shows faith on Mayank Agarwal
Interesting, Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar has recently opined that Rohit Sharma should replace Hanuma Vihari in the starting XI with Mayank Agarwal retaining his opening spot. Gavaskar also said that Shubman Gill should bat in the middle-order at number three with Sharma and Agarwal opening the innings for the Men in Blue.
“I will have Mayank-Rohit opening, Gill in the middle order, and Vihari goes out for the third Test,” Gavaskar said on Sony Sports Network.
Both, Mayank Agarwal and Hanuma Vihari have failed to come up with the goods for India in the first two Tests against Australia in Adelaide and Melbourne. Mayank scored only 31 runs in four innings and Vihari gathered a handful of 45 runs in three innings. Ajinkya Rahane and coach Ravi Shastri has a mammoth of a decision to make before the third Test. The Indians went on par with the Australians with a win in the second Test at Melbourne.
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IND vs AUS: T Natarajan set to make his Test debut
The Indians will now face the Australians on January 7th, 2021 for the third Test at Sydney. As per reports, Ajinkya Rahane and coach Ravi Shastri are set to alter their playing XI again as pacer T Natarajan can make his Test debut in the process.
“The selectors had added Shardul Thakur (Mumbai paceman) as a replacement for Mohammed Shami (out with a fractured forearm), and there is Navdeep Saini too, but it’s very much likely that Natarajan would be preferred given that he brings variation to the attack. “Also, as Mitchell Starc does for Nathan Lyon, he would create footmarks which spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja can exploit,” a source was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
29-year-old T Natarajan replaced injured Navdeep Saini make his T20I debut against Australia. And now, it is rumored that the Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer is set to replace Umesh Yadav in the third Test at Sydney. Indian bowler Umesh Yadav picked up a calf injury in the second Test at Melbourne. However, Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini are also in line to replace the injured Umesh Yadav in the third Test. Mohammed Siraj, who replaced injured Mohammed Shami in the second Test, has seemingly cemented his spot in the playing XI with his decent debut at Melbourne.
