India vs Australia 2018-19: Sunil Gavaskar Reveals His India Playing XI For Adelaide Test

Ahead of the much-awaited Test series between India and Australia, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has picked his India playing eleven for the series-opener.

India and Australia are all set to renew their famous Test rivalry. Adelaide opens the Test summer for Australia against India on December 6 in a blockbuster Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. The Perth Stadium will host its first Test match when India visit for the second Border-Gavaskar match, before the series moves back to Melbourne and Sydney for the traditional Boxing Day and New Year’s games respectively.

But for the time being, all eyes are on the Adelaide Test which will potentially pave the way for the rest of the summer. And ahead of the game, Sunil Gavaskar has picked an interesting eleven for India.

The batting stalwart has interestingly left out Rohit Sharma from the team. Rohit is making a return to Test cricket through the series after being dropped earlier this year following his poor showing against South Africa. And although the right-hander is in red-hot form in limited-overs cricket, Gavaskar is not sure of whether he could replicate the same form in the red-ball cricket.

Another interesting omission is KL Rahul. Rahul played all the games in England as well as Windies at home but failed to impress. Barring the century against England in the last Test at The Oval, the right-hander failed to play any big knock. And Gavaskar feels India will be better off with Murali Vijay opening the innings alongside young sensation Prithvi Shaw.

As expected, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant are in the middle order.

In the spin department, Gavaskar has picked up two names – R Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav – while leaving out Ravindra Jadeja. The legendary player has also left out the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav from the team.

Sunil Gavaskar’s playing eleven for first India-Australia Test:

Prithvi Shaw, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav,  Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami