The Indian team management is weighing its options for the third pacer’s slot with Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini in contention but Rohit Sharma is certain to replace Mayank Agarwal at the top of the order against Australia in the third Test starting at Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday.
While Agarwal’s axing was only a matter of time after seven failures in last eight Test innings, the choice for the third pacer’s slot has got a bit tricky with divergent opinions emerging on who could fit the role best in absence of an injured Umesh Yadav.
A few days back, Mumbai seamer and useful lower-order batsman Shardul Thakur was considered a favourite but it is learnt that there are some senior players, who feel that Saini, India’s fastest bowler by a distance, could be used to unsettle the wobbly Australian batting line-up with his raw pace.
The Indian team had a net session at the overcast SCG on the day and all eyes were on Rohit Sharma, who looked pretty comfortable against both pace and spin.
The decision on the third pacer has been primarily delayed because on Tuesday, the SCG centre strip was covered due to overcast conditions.
On Wednesday, a look at the strip and the conditions will probably help them make a decisive choice.
If the conditions are overcast and there is bit more moisture on the strip, then Thakur is expected to be preferred.
If the track is on the flatter side, Saini, with his pace and ability to reverse the old ball, could prove to be a handful against a batting order that is struggling to put up even 200 runs on the board.
If Saini plays, it will be his debut in the longest format while for Thakur, it would be like a debut as he couldn’t even finish his second over when it was officially his debut two years back.
There is a third angle to the pacer’s debate and that is Thangarasu Natarajan, who has had a meteoric rise in the past four months and is ready to be handed the red cherry in whites as his tweet after Monday’s photo-shoot suggested.
Natarajan has 20 first-class games to his credit and his last longer format appearance was in January, 2020 against Railways on a rank-turner at the Chepauk where Railways were all-out for 76 and 90 largely due to the exploits of spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and R Sai Kishore.
Natarajan bowled a total of 11 overs in that game with three wickets. Whether Natarajan is ready for the arduous bump and grind of Test cricket is the biggest question.
India Expected Squad (from 12 in batting order): Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur/Navdeep Saini.
vvs expects century from Ro
The Australian wickets suit Rohit Sharma’s batting style and if he can see off the pacers with the new ball, the Indian vice-captain can conjure a big century in the Sydney Test, reckons former India batsman VVS Laxman.
An injury during the IPL forced Rohit to miss a major part of the Australia tour, where India lost the ODI series, won the T20 assignment and the Test series is locked at 1-1.
“The Indian cricket team will be very pleased to have Rohit Sharma back, especially when Virat is not there. You want more experience in the Indian dressing room, because now is the perfect opportunity for us to go 2-1 in Sydney and then probably win 3-1,” Laxman said on Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected.
“Rohit Sharma himself would like to showcase his talent, because I always feel that his style of batting and talent is very suited for the Australian wicket.
“So, if he gets his eye in, if he sees through the new ball, I’m sure that a big hundred is on the cards as far as Rohit’s batting is concerned,” he added.