Team India Playing XI Equation: Captain Rohit Sharma, who is at a crossroads in his Test career, will have to choose the best among some options in the best interest of the Indian team in the fifth and final Test against Australia. After a 184-run defeat in the Boxing Day Test, India are trailing 1-2 in the series ahead of the decider and the Indian captain may have to field six of his best batsmen at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in the last match in Melbourne. The way will be cleared for the inclusion of the excluded Shubman Gill in the eleven.
With 866 runs in Test cricket in the year 2024, Gill is second only to Yashasvi Jaiswal in the list of highest run-scorers among Indian batsmen in the last one year and if he will be disappointed by being dropped from the eleven in Melbourne, then there will be some reason for this. Not wrong. However, Rohit told that the team management informed Gill about the reasons for his exclusion in Melbourne. He was dropped to ensure better balance in the playing eleven as Washington Sundar’s bowling was expected to provide additional advantage.
Now the question arises that how does Rohit include Gill in the eleven for the Sydney match. India will have to win this match at any cost to keep alive its chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) final next year. Washington proved his worth by scoring 50 runs and also made a century partnership with centurion Nitish Kumar Reddy. If his bowling had been more sharp, he would have definitely bowled more overs.
The SCG has traditionally been a wicket where the spinners get help as the match progresses and so it is almost certain that either Washington or Tanush Kotian will play Ravindra Jadeja, unless the captain suddenly finds Jaiswal down the leg. There is no confidence in the break and they decide to play a specialist batsman (Gill) instead of a batting all-rounder (Washington).
The Adelaide Test, played under floodlights with the Pink Kookaburra, provided the most challenging conditions for the Indian team and Gill scored 31 and 28 in that match and looked much more comfortable than both Rohit and Virat Kohli. The second option may be more convenient and involves replacing one of Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep in place of Gill as the SCG may be left without three specialist fast bowlers. Jadeja and Washington are expected to bowl more overs in Sydney than in Melbourne.
Siraj has strengthened his claim with a brilliant spell in Sydney while Akash Deep could take only one wicket in two innings. The third option is the most inconvenient but perhaps it is also the need of the hour. If Rohit wants to set an example. The captain, who has scored only 31 runs in five innings and 155 runs in the last 14 innings, can voluntarily step down and give young star Gill a chance to play. In such a situation, Lokesh Rahul may get a chance to open the innings again where he looks most confident.
