BCCI announces team India’s playing XI for the first test against Australia

New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)  on Wednesday announced the team India’s playing XI for the first Border-Gavaskar Test against Australia starting tomorrow in Adelaide.

India’s playing XI: Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami, and Jasprit Bumrah.

The Virat Kohli-led side has chosen to go in with three seamers and one spinner in the first Test. Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, and Umesh Yadav are the three pacers while Ravichandran Ashwin has been chosen as the lone spinner.

Here’s the list:

With the four-match Test series against Australia set to get underway on Thursday, Virat Kohli-led India will be looking to close the gap with table-toppers Australia in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) points table.

India holds third place in the ICC Men’s Test team rankings with 114 rating points, whilst Australia top the rankings with 116.46 rating points. New Zealand follows closely in second with 116.37 rating points.

New Zealand is very close to reaching the ICC World Test Championship final in 2021 after securing back-to-back innings wins against the West Indies.

India will now feel the pressure as the race to the World Test Championship final heats up. Australia and India will fight it out in a four-Test series as the hosts look to build on their narrow lead at the top of the table. If New Zealand overcome Pakistan 2-0 in the two-Test series which starts on December 26, they will finish on 420 points from five series.

That will leave India needing five wins or four wins and three draws out of their last eight Tests, which include facing Australia away and hosting England for a four-Test series beginning in February.

Depending on how India’s series against Australia goes and New Zealand’s series against Pakistan goes, Australia could build their lead at number one or make way for New Zealand at the top.

The factor that determines the final placings is now percentage points, following a change to the points system announced earlier, owing to the disruption of international cricket due to the COVID-19 pandemic.