Five burning questions for India ahead of Border-Gavaskar series against Australia

by Divy Tripathi

Besides a proud Border-Gavaskar Trophy record to defend, where India last lost a series almost a decade back, important ICC World Test Championship points will be at stake for Rohit Sharma's side.

Before New Zealand toured, India were comfortably placed at the top of the WTC standings. However, following their 3-0 series loss to the Black Caps, the side has slipped to second behind Australia and is in danger of missing next year’s final at Lord’s.

World Test Championship Standings

Here’s a look at the issues that India need to address before the series commences in Perth on November 22:

The big two: Form of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, the lynchpins of India’s batting for more than a decade are a sureshot selection for the Men in Blue going into the first Test in Perth. However, the duo have come under scrutiny for their form during the home season.

While Rohit added 133 runs at an average of 13.30, Kohli was marginally better with 192 runs at 21.33.

With India needing the best possible outcome in the series to secure a place in the WTC Final, they will hope their big guns overcome this lean stretch to lead the batting charge.

Selecting the correct bowling combination for Perth

While Perth often evokes the memory of searing fast bowling spells from yesteryear and visiting sides haven’t shied away from fielding all-pace attacks at Perth Stadium, including Virat Kohli’s India in 2018, statistics indicate that spinners do get plenty to work at the venue.

Australia’s lead spinner Nathan Lyon has, for instance, brilliant figures of 27 scalps at an average of 18 at the venue. Given India have three quality spinners in their squad including two off-spinners, team management will have to figure out what bowling combination they prefer to go in ahead of the opening Test.

Stabilising the batting order

The last couple of Tests saw India switch their lower-order batting options, with a focus on keeping a left-right batting combination at the crease on some occasions. While India seemed to switch to a more conventional approach in the final innings in Mumbai, these isn’t yet a clarity on batting positions for some batters.

Sarfaraz Khan, who scored a brilliant 150 in the first Test, has batted in three different positions in his last three innings, which seemed to affect his batting as the batter scored merely 10 runs from these outings.

It remains to be seen if India will continue with this approach.

The lead spinner

Unlike at home, India won’t have the luxury of playing three spinners in Australia given the conditions. It becomes imperative then for the side to pick their lead spinner at the very start of the series.

Ravindra Jadeja has solid returns over his last two visits to the country, with 14 wickets at an average of 21.78, but Washington Sundar has shown great form recently with 16 wickets in his last two Tests, and Ravinchandran Ashwin has the experience of over 500 Test scalps.

Given all three players can fit into the spin bowling all-rounder category, the final call will perhaps boil down to the make-up of the opposition line-up and fitness.

The Mohammed Siraj conundrum

With Mohammed Shami ruled out of contention for the Australia series, India have genuine concerns about the make-up of their pace line-up. While Jasprit Bumrah is a certainty, and Akash Deep has impressed with his ability to hit the stumps, questions might arise around the form of Mohammed Siraj.

Siraj, who was India’s big find during their last visit to Australia, with 13 wickets in his debut series, hit a rough patch in the home Test season.

His six wickets from four games came at an expensive average of 42.33. This is far from ideal circumstances going into Australia, and Siraj will need a quick turnaround.

Should India be forced to look elsewhere, they will have the less experienced trio of pacers Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana, and all-rounder Nitish Reddy to choose from. Of these three, only Prasidh has played Tests before with two games to his name.