India on Friday (December 25) announced a not-so-surprising Playing XI with four major changes for the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test against Australia starting from December 26 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
In the Boxing Day Test – which is India’s 100th Test match against Australia, Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj received their maiden Test caps at the iconic MCG on Saturday.
Apart from the two white-ball stars, Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant were also named in the Playing XI for the second Test of the ongoing four-match Test series in Australia with KL Rahul not finding a space in the team for the mega contest at MCG.
While Gill was named as the replacement for the struggling Prithvi Shaw, Jadeja and Pant came in for Virat Kohli, and Wriddhiman Saha respectively. Siraj came in for the injured Mohammad Shami.
Well, Rahul’s overlooking has surprised some including former India captain and former chief selector Kris Srikkanth who wasn’t pleased with the Indian team management’s decision to leave the Karnataka batsman out of the team for such a crucial Boxing Day Test against Australia.
He took to Twitter on Friday to express his disappointment over the right-hander’s overlooking for the second Test. Rahul hasn’t played a Test since the West Indies series in August 2019.
Srikkanth tweeted, “Don't get why @klrahul11 is dropped for the boxing test! #BoxingDayTest”
Noteworthy, Rahul hasn’t played a single game after the white-ball series in Australia, as he was overlooked for two practice matches against Australia A before being sidelined for the first pink-ball Test at Adelaide Oval – where India suffered a massive defeat by 8 wickets last week.
Here’s India XI for the Boxing Day Test:
Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, and Mohammed Siraj.
