Four days on from the start of the first Test of the widely anticipated Border Gavaskar Trophy, and the nature of India’s 11 for this match in Perth is anybody’s guess.
Rohit Sharma, the captain, is not in Australia owing to the birth of his second child last Friday. Shubman Gill, who debuted strongly in Australia during the 2020-21 as an opener, has been ruled out of at least the first Test after injuring himself during the intra-squad match. That leaves India – who are chasing a hat-trick of wins in Australia as well as a spot in the World Test Championship final – without one opener and their No 3.
The pickings are slim. The two batsmen s vying to open alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal did little to enhance their credentials during the recent India A versus Australia A series. Abhimanyu Easwaran totaled 36 runs in four innings and KL Rahul, who played the second four-day match in Melbourne, managed scores of 4 and 10.
Rahul has, of course, opened in Australia on past tours but his average in the country after nine innings in 20.77 and barring a century back in 2014-15, he has six single-digit scores including a duck. Gautam Gambhir has strongly backed Rahul to open in Rohit’s absence, and it looks like Easwaran will have to keep waiting for that elusive Test cap.
Unless the team management decide to hand Easwaran a debut given he is a specialist opener and get Rahul to bat at No 3. It is not an altogether unthinkable idea, because Rahul has batted at one-down on five occasions and, despite a lowly average of 17.60 in that role, he does have plenty of experience which has always been valued when we talk of the No 3 slot.
Who else could bat at one-down, even for one Test? Virat Kohli did the job recently when Gill was injured, but considering that the bulk of his Test success as come while batting at No 4, as well as his recent struggles, it might be too much to ask of Kohli. And it Kohli does move up a spot, India will need to fill his No 4 position and there are no viable options, since promoting Ravindra Jadeja or Rishabh Pant that high comes with risk.
Devdutt Padikkal, a specialist No 3, has been kept back after the India A series a spare batting option following Gill’s finger injury. The left-hander did decently well for India A with scores of 36, 88, 26 and 1 and might be left-field choice to slot in at one-down for the Perth Test. That would also ensure that Kohli, on his last Test tour of Australia, gets to bat where he feels best suited.
There was one batsman who emerged from that India A game at the MCG as a potential disrupter in India’s 11 for the Perth Test – Dhruv Jurel, who like Rahul flew to Australia after the loss to New Zealand in Mumbai and slotted right into the India A lineup. Where most others struggled at the MCG, Jurel struck 80 and 68 in two fine exhibitions of how to bat in Australian conditions.
In the first innings, his 80 off 186 deliveries was the only fifty for India A and helped revive the score from 11/4 to 161. When India A batted a second time, the 23-year-old made 68 in a partnership of 94 for the sixth wicket with Nitish Reddy. To boot, Jurel held five catches in the match, which underlines why he has cemented his place as India’s reserve wicketkeeper behind Pant.
Jurel made his Test debut earlier this year against England and scored 190 runs at an average of 63.33, earning himself the Man of the Match award in the fourth Test with scores of 90 and 39 not out. And now, after his two innings at the MCG, Jurel finds his name being taken in terms of a pure batsman for the Perth Test. Indeed, it could be Jurel batting at No. 6 come November 22.
