India’s next big assignment in Tests will be the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. The series will start later this year. In the recent series against England, India had many seniors unavailable. For the Australia Tour, they would want to avoid this issue. On that note, here, we take a look at India’s likely bowling attack for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy later this year in Australia.
Pacers – Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Mayank Yadav and Shardul Thakur
India’s pace attack has done consistently well in Australia in the recent tours. In the last two times that India travelled to Australia, the pacers stepped up and took some key scalps. Especially in the last tour, they were in good form despite missing some key members.
If no injury issues, India will have the trio of Bumrah, Shami and Siraj. For overseas Tests, due to his batting skills, Shardul Thakur is likely to be preferred. India must take a fifth pacer and it will be interesting to see who they pick. The options include Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna and Avesh Khan. However, with the kind of display in the ongoing IPL, Mayank Yadav could get the nod ahead of all these players.
Spinners – Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav
It will be a similar spin unit in India’s likely bowling attack for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy later this year in Australia. India would not experiment much in this regard. Ravindra Jadeja will occupy the No.7 role in the Indian Team, yet again.
Kuldeep Yadav has been doing well in the recent tournaments. It would not be a surprise if he gets to play a few Tests in Australia. He is a wicket-taker and that is important. Ashwin will be the lead spinner on the squad but might struggle to be a part of the playing XI.
