Veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh has picked his India’s XI for the first Test match against Australia at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur. The place in World Test Championship final is at stake for both sides in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, starting from February 9.
The Indian cricket team is going through an injury crisis as they will be missing the services of Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah which has put the team management under a tight spot to pick their strongest XI in the absence of their star trio.
Harbhajan, who had an imperious record against Australia in Tests as he claimed 95 wickets in 18 matches, has named his XI where he omitted a couple of notable players from the list.
The veteran off-spinner snubbed vice-captain KL Rahul and picked Shubman Gill to open the innings alongside skipper Rohit Sharma. The 23-year-old has been in tremendous form in the past year and has scored centuries across formats. While Rahul has not been at his best in recent times and struggled to score big runs, he has already lost his ODI vice-captaincy to Hardik Pandya.
My Team india 11 for the firstTest1- Rohit2-Gill3-Pujara4-Virat5-Surya6- Jadeja7-Bharat8-Ashwin9-Axar10- Shami11- Siraj #INDvsAUS ???? what are ur thoughts guys ?— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) February 8, 2023
While a cricket fan raised a question about Rahul’s absence but he made a typo, “Where is wise captain.”
Harbhajan had a cheeky reply to it as he said, “Wise nahi Hota .. vice hota hai .. waise rohit is very wise captain.”
Wise nahi Hota .. vice hota hai .. waise rohit is very wise captain ???? https://t.co/c0LzgvqYAU— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) February 8, 2023
The Turbanator made obvious picks at number 3 and 4 spots Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli respectively. While at 5, he chose Suryakumar Yadav to make his Test debut for India, followed by another debutant in KS Bharat as a wicketkeeper batter.
He chose Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel as the spin troika as he snubbed Kuldeep Yadav from the XI despite his recent memorable performances in both white and red-ball formats.
Harbhajan picked Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Shami as the two frontline pacers in the XI as the Nagpur surface is expected to be a rank-turner.
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