India’s strongest playing 11 for 1st Test vs Australia

The excitement is at its peak, as the much-anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy is set to start next week. Let’s look at India’s strongest playing 11 for 1st Test vs Australia.

India won the last two BGT’s (2018/19 and 2020/21) played down under and will look to make it three in a row.  

However, a recent whitewash against New Zealand asked some tough questions to every department and given that team India reached Australia 10 days prior to the first Test, starting November 22 in Perth.  

India’s depth in talent has made choosing the strongest playing 11 a challenge.

Here’s an analysis of India’s best line-up for the first test against Australia

Openers: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul  

Yashasvi Jaiswal is India’s top run-scorer in international cricket in 2024 with 1412 runs in 29 innings and is set to start the BGT as one of the best to watch out, as even Australian are eager to watch him play.  

KL Rahul will likely to open with Yashasvi in place of India’s regular skipper Rohit Sharma as he is expected to miss opening test due to personal reasons.  

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Middle-order: Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel  

The middle-order will feature Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant at number 3, 4 and 5, respectively. Dhruv Jurel can be seen playing at number 6 as per the situation. Jurel, reached ahead of India’s main squad to prepare and adapt to Australian conditions.  

His performance was clinical in the second unofficial test with 80 in first and 68 in second innings that makes him a contender to be a part of playing 11 in place of Sarfaraz Khan.  

All-rounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy  

Jadeja will start as first-choice all-rounder, while Nitish Kumar Reddy is the perfect fit at Perth’s bouncy track. Reddy is a sound batter, and his medium pacer will provide India an extra bowling option in the game.  

Bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep  

Jasprit Bumrah to lead India’s pace department with Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep are the other two best pacers alongside him.  

Siraj was the top wicket-taker for India with 13 wickets in three games during last BGT played in Australia in 2020-21.  

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