All eyes will be on Team India when they take on Australia in the second Test match after the Adelaide defeat. With MS Dhoni coming in place of Wriddhiman Saha, speculations are rife whether the team will have more changes in the playing XI.
Three slots are in discussion — opening, middle-order and spin department. However, don’t be surprised if changes are made in the pace attack as well. Mohammed Sami, Varun Aaron and Ishant Sharma have been leading the Indian pace attack.
In the Adelaide Test where Australia won by 48 runs, Shikhar Dhawan failed to make any impression. He was, however, unfortunate to have been given caught behind in the second inning when the ball had clearly hit his shoulder. He needs to get his act together because KL Rahul from Karnataka is waiting in the wings with an impressive show in the domestic cricket. Dhawan played well in the shorter version of the game against the Sri Lankans at home recently.
Rohit Sharma, too, was in scintillating form in the same series. He scored the highest individual score of 264 in ODI cricket history by beating Virender Sehwag’s 219. He played a 43-run knock in the first innings, which means Suresh Raina may have to wait to get a place in the playing squad.
Like Dhawan and Sharma, Raina, too, has been scoring runs consistently in the ODIs more than anyone else. Even team director Ravi Shastri backed his Test comeback after the England ODI series. Accordingly, Raina was picked and now he is waiting for his chance to be back in the playing XI.
The Indian team management has reasons to be worried on the bowling front. The Indian attack could only bag 12 wickets in the Test match. Out of which, Karn Sharma got four wickets. The rests were shared by the pace bowlers.
Will the team management bring in another spinner in Ravichandran Ashwin by dropping a pacer or replace Sharma with Ashwin? With former Indian Test captain Anil Kumble questioning the decision of the team management to drop Ashwin from the 1st Test match, the team will have some serious thinking to do. Last if not the least, the conditions in Brisbane, which suits fast bowlers, will also play a role.
