Former India captain and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar© AFP
Former India captain and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has named the 11 players he thinks should be part of India playing 11 for the first Test against Sri Lanka, that begins Friday in Mohali. Speaking to Sports Tak, Gavaskar picked his Team India 11 for the upcoming clash and decided to pick three seamers and two spinners in the line-up.
When asked about his XI Gavaskar said, “Rohit (Sharma), Mayank (Agarwal), (Hanuma) Vihari, (Virat) Kohli, Shreyas (Iyer), (Rishabh) Pant, (Ravindra) Jadeja, (Ravichandran) Ashwin, (Mohammed) Shami, (Jasprit) Bumrah, Umesh (Yadav).”
Gavaskar in the initial part of the chat mentioned that the pitch square looked quite green and said that there are chances of the surface helping seamers. He further highlighted the fact that captain Rohit Sharma in the pre-match press conference has called it a typical Mohali wicket, which meant that the pitch could help the seamers in the first session with bounce and carry.
It will be interesting to see the make up of India’s playing XI as the Indians have often relied on an extra spinner in home conditions to get the better of the opposition.
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“I think India should play three fast bowlers because the Mohali pitch always helps seamers. Also, we are playing against Sri Lanka, who are better players of spin than pace bowling. They are used to playing spinners and that is why I think two spinners is enough,” Gavaskar said while explaining why he has picked three seamers and two spinners.
The Mohali Test match will be a special occasion as it will be Rohit Sharma’s first Test as Indian captain and Virat Kohli’s 100th Test match.
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