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What should be India's strategy in Tests versus Australia?
19 Nov 2018
India will be locking horns with Australia in four Tests, starting December 6 at the Adelaide.
It will be another severe test for Virat Kohli's side after having lost the away series against South Africa and England this year.
With no Steve Smith and David Warner, the visitors have an edge, but Australia will still test Men in Blue.
What should be India's strategy?
India need to be wise atop
Openers
What didn't go well for India against both Proteas and England was their disastrous batting approach atop.
There were too many changes as players were dropped after a single Test.
Now India need to learn from the mistakes.
Young Prithvi Shaw has been impressive, but there is an issue regarding his partner.
Both Rahul and Vijay seem vulnerable with their form overseas.
Should Rohit be Shaw's opening partner?
Fact
India have Rohit Sharma as cover in the squad. The opener has been in superb form in both ODIs and T20Is this year. Perhaps, Kohli could go bold and give Sharma a chance to open alongside Shaw. India shouldn't limit him to the middle order.
India need the middle order to revolve around Virat
Middle order
Besides Kohli, none of the middle-order batsmen showed the application to fight the pace battery of England or SA.
Ajinkya Rahane has been disappointing, whereas, Pujara is going through a lean patch.
These two are the pillars and they have to revolve around Kohli, who is this year's top run-scorer in Tests.
India need to build big partnerships to ease the situation for themselves.
India need to be smart in team selection
Team
Kohli has often been found wanting with his team selection both in South Africa and then in England.
He got the call wrong on numerous occasions, which in turn proved costly.
India cannot afford the same in Australia.
Getting the right balance and the best team out on the field should be the priority.
The pace bowling combination should be spot on.
Kohli needs to play Jadeja in XI
Choice
In England, skipper Kohli didn't utilize Umesh Yadav enough.
He featured in only first Test and was dropped for the remainder of the series.
So should Kohli get in for spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja instead into the starting line-up?
Since he made a return in September against England, he has been in tremendous form with both the bat as well as ball.
Adelaide Test: Our ideal playing XI choice
Fact
Our ideal playing XI choice for the first Test: 1) Prithvi Shaw, 2) Rohit Sharma 3) Cheteshwar Pujara, 4) Virat Kohli (c), 5) Ajinkya Rahane, 6) Rishabh Pant (wk), 7) Ravindra Jadeja, 8) Ravichandran Ashwin, 9) Mohammed Shami, 10) Ishant Sharma, 11) Jasprit Bumrah
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