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India eyes another big win in Pujara’s 100th Test, top-order worries remain

KL Rahul’s prolonged absence remains a concern but India will still start as favorites against Australia in the second Test starting here on Friday and will again try to get the result in three days. Can get This match will be the 100th Test of the career of Cheteshwar Pujara, the lesser known batsman of Indian cricket, which took him 13 years to reach. Pujara would like to celebrate this personal achievement by scoring his 20th Test century. But India’s top-order worries remain.

Except captain Rohit Sharma, other batsmen could not walk in the opening test. Rohit scored a century in the first Test in Nagpur. Apart from Rahul, the list of struggling players also includes Virat Kohli and to a lesser extent Pujara. Kohli is leaving no stone unturned to face the spinners. So it could be interesting to have Kohli facing Nathan Lyon and Todd Murphy again. Time is running out for KL Rahul as Shubman Gill, despite being in fine form, has to wait.

Rahul has not been able to take advantage of the many opportunities he has got in his 46 Test career and his average has also been less than 34. If the 30-year-old Karnataka fails again before the squad for the final two Tests is announced, it will be interesting to see what the Indian team management decides. Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja had put the Australians under immense pressure during the innings win in Nagpur but there is no telling whether there will be another slow-turning pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla.

On the other hand, until the Australian team does not bat well, it will not be able to take this test till the fifth day. When the moisture dries up on the pitch of Ferozeshah Kotla, this pitch will become lifeless. Indian team head coach Rahul Dravid had no qualms in admitting that the middle-order trio of Jadeja, (still injured) Rishabh Pant and (fit) Shreyas Iyer have bailed the team out of trouble on most occasions in recent times. Has taken out. Even in the opening Test in Nagpur, the work of including the Australian team was done by the pair of Akshar Patel and Jadeja.

The pitch at the Kotla could be a bit slower than the Jamtha, which will require the Indian batsmen to emulate their captain’s style of batting, which is defensive as well as aggressive. With the ground having a short boundary on one side, skipper Pat Cummins will be wary of bowling Nathan Lyon from the ‘Old Pavilion’ end as the leg-side boundary will be barely 60 metres.

Iyer, on the other hand, has completed his rehab after a lower back injury and as per the current team management rules, if a player was performing well before the injury, he will get his place back in the playing XI. Rather Dravid had said, “If Iyer takes charge of the five-day Test, he can join the team.” Iyer hasn’t played competitive cricket for more than 30 days, so wouldn’t it be risky to play him straight into a Test match without checking his match fitness? This question is a bit tricky.

And in the case of Suryakumar Yadav, more than replacing Iyer, India wants to feed him as a replacement for Pant in the middle order because Kona Bharat is a good wicketkeeper who can also bat. At the same time, the question remains whether David Warner will get another chance or not. Warner’s poor performance is a matter of concern for Australia. Whether he gets another chance remains to be seen.

It will also be interesting to see whether Australia decide to go with three spinners after bringing in an additional left-arm spinner in the form of Matt Kuhneman. Mitchell Starc can replace Scott Boland if he is fit. The teams are as follows. India: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Akshar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper).

Australia: Pat Cummins (c), David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Alex Carey (wk), Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Nathan Lyon, Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Lance Morris, Mitchell Swepson, Todd Murphy, Josh Hazlewood (unavailable), Cameron Green (unavailable), Mitchell Starc (from 2nd Test). The match will start at 9:30 am Indian time.

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