Australia announced a strong playing eleven for the third Test match against India on Friday with Josh Hazlewood replacing Scott Boland in an only change. Fans eagerly wait for India's playing eleven as there is a lot of buzz around the potential changes after a heavy loss in the second match in Adelaide.
India face no injury or unavailability issues ahead of their return to Gabba but the various reports hint at a few changes to their playing eleven. Captain Rohit Sharma has been tipped to reclaim his opening spot alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal after batting in the No.6 position in the second game.
Rohit is facing some heat over his form and leadership skills after a 10-wicket defeat in Adelaide and will be looking to find runs at Gabba to recover his form. KL Rahul is expected to keep his place in the team and swap back to his regular No.6 position, keeping Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel on the bench.
Shubman Gill also failed to impress on his return to the team from an injury but is expected to keep playing in the No.3 position. Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant will continue playing in their preferred positions but India is tempted to make two changes to their bowling attack.
Washington Sundar is tipped to replace Washington Sundar in India's playing eleven. The young spin all-rounder was impressive at Gabba during the 2021-22 tour and can offer more depth in batting in case of a top-order collapse.
In pace attack, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Nitish Reddy are set to feature in the team but Harshit Rana is likely to get replaced by Akash Deep. Harshit struggled to impress with both bat and ball in the first two matches with 4 wickets in 3 innings and two ducks in Adelaide.
Australia playing XI: Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.
India's predicted playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
India Squad for 3rd Test: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravindra Jadeja, Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep.
