Australia vs India 2018: Sanjay Manjrekar Reveals his India XI for MCG Test

After a convincing win in Adelaide, Indian National Cricket Team lost the second game by 146 runs in Perth. However, Virat Kohli’s men will lock horns against Australia for the third Test commencing from December 26 in Melbourne. Meanwhile, the former Indian cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar reveals his playing XI including Ravindra Jadeja for the third Test.

Manjrekar’s prediction for the third Test

Ahead of the third Test, India had faced a few selection issues. Prithvi Shaw who got injured during the practice match saw KL Rahul and Murali Vijay opening the innings.

However, the duo couldn’t perform well in both the Tests. Rahul and Vijay have failed to provide good starts to the Indian team in the series so far. Partnerships of 3, 63, 6, 0 for the first wicket in four innings clearly show the pair has struggled a lot.

Moreover, Sanjay Mannjrekar opined India should open with the all-rounder, Hanuma Vihari. Meanwhile, Mayank didn’t play a single game and even was not a part of the practice game against Cricket Australia XI.

“My thought is: on Australian pitches, against the hard Kookaburra ball, is it fair to throw a young talent in as an opener with no practice games under his belt? Also in India’s long history of Tests, there is not much evidence of front-line batsmen having made their debuts in Australia. There must be a reason for that,” Sanjay Manjrekar wrote in his column for ESPNcricinfo, batting for Vihari to open the innings.

Furthermore, Majrekar also said about the bowling combination for team India for the third Test. He backed Ravindra Jadeja to return in the team dropping Umesh Yadav. The 53-year-old also didn’t favour Bhuvneshar Kumar and Hardik Pandya. The all-rounder recently got added into the full squad for the third and fourth Test.

However, Indian playing XI will surely have one or two changes. On the other hand, Australia is likely to go in with same playing XI, retaining Shaun Marsh.