Kuldeep Yadav to be included? Predicting India's likely playing XI for 2nd ODI against Australia
Perth ended up being a debacle for more reasons than one for the Indian team but not having Jasprit Bumrah for the ODIs might force the captain and the team management to mull a change in the bowling attack for the do-or-die clash in Adelaide on Thursday.
For all practical purposes, the Indian players and the team management would have done everything to forget Perth, which ended up being a disaster for more than one reason. The wet conditions in Western Australia didn’t help and losing the toss was the worst situation India could find themselves in. India were three down in no time, the frequent rain breaks piled on the misery and Australia chased it down without much discomfort.
Now a few days later, India would have chalked out where they went wrong in the first ODI and Adelaide would be the most familiar surface for the Men in Blue Down Under, both in terms of similarity with Indian conditions with respect to flatness and how successful they have been at this venue. After a loss like that, does it warrant a change? India would be hard pressed not to change the combination and maintain some stability but the elongated chats between the coaches and the young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal hinted at something.
It may be about Jaiswal staying on for the T20Is or could it even be about him slotting in for one of Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli? The latter looks difficult, given the duo played just one game after return to the national side after seven months and given the experience, a change in their spots would be unwarranted.
Then it leaves just one spot - what of Kuldeep Yadav? If anything Asia Cup and the Test series against the West Indies told the Indian team management that the left-arm wrist spinner might be irreplaceable and in Jasprit Bumrah’s absence? Very important.
But will India sacrifice the batting depth and give Harshit Rana a bit more responsibility at No 8? That’ll be interesting to see. It’s a do-or-die and India will leave no stone unturned in getting that W against their name in South Australia on Thursday.
India's likely XI for 2nd ODI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar/Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh