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Team India had a forgettable outing in the Adelaide Test, which saw them go down against Australia by 10 wickets in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Seeing this defeat, Team India now has a lot of things to address in their camp, including Rohit Sharma’s batting position after he demoted himself to number six with KL Rahul continuing to open alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Addressing India’s concerns from the Adelaide Test as the two teams now get ready for the third Test in Gabba, former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh also predicted India’s playing XI for the Gabba Test. The former off-spinner expected Rohit Sharma to continue at No. 6 with the side making atleast two changes.
Sundar in place of Ashwin and Krishna to replace Rana: Harbhajan Singh
Speaking with Star Sports ahead of Gabba Test, which is set to start from Saturday, December 14 onwards, Singh said, "I don't think there will be any change in the batting order. I feel the batting order will be like this only. We discussed yesterday on the show that Rohit Sharma should probably come up the order. (Sunil) Gavaskar sahab also said that, but I feel the team management will not think like that."
"They will probably go with the same kind of batting order that worked for them in Perth. Rohit is also not in great form. So why would you send him (Rohit) up the order when he is not in form? I feel you should start with KL Rahul and Yashasvi (Jaiswal) only, and Rohit should bat in the middle order," Harbhajan added. “I feel we might see one change. Washington Sundar might come back and play in Brisbane. Although Ashwin didn't bowl much and didn't get much opportunity to do anything special, the way Washington Sundar's first match went, he picked up two wickets and is slightly better with the bat, I feel he will be played," he further continued, adding that Prasidh Krishna can also come in place of Harshit Rana.
India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed
