Washington Sundar or Ashwin? India’s selection dilemma ahead of Adelaide Test

Will Ravi Ashwin feature in the playing XI for the 2nd Australia vs India Test? Photo: Debasis Sen.

-Debasis Sen in Adelaide

Will Ravichandran Ashwin play in the Day-Night Test against Australia, which gets underway at the Adelaide Oval from Friday? The focus was on the veteran off-spinner as he turned up for the optional practice session on Thursday, along with captain Rohit Sharma. Ashwin was seen taking a stance wider off the crease in a bid to prepare against the likes of Mitchell Starc coming round the wicket, and Pat Cummins bowling from wider off the crease, trying to get the ball into the right-handers.

He was getting throwdowns from Head Coach, Gautam Gambhir, and assistant coach, Ryan ten Doescathe. Following the special drill, the veteran spinner had a long chat with Gambhir for close to 40 minutes.

In fact, Ashwin was also seen turning up for the practice session on Wednesday, an hour before the scheduled practice. He along with Nitish Kumar Reddy were seen taking throwdowns to fine-tune their game. Ashwin also gave instructions to the throwdown specialists to bowl with a wider angle. The focus was to constantly leave the ball that did a bit.

If the optional practice session was an indicator, then Ashwin might be preferred over Washington Sundar. With Rohit deciding to come down the batting order, the batting order will look solid, especially after the way Nitish batted with confidence in the Perth Test. The Indian captain batted for about 30 minutes, taking only throwdowns from Dayanand, Nuwan and Raghu.

With the Adelaide Oval strip likely to assist the spinners towards the later stage of the Test, it will not be a bad option to play Ashwin, given his record at this ground. He has picked 16 wickets in six innings at an average of 30.

Apart from the Ashwin selection dilemma, the other bone of contention will be the third seamer in the playing XI. Will the team management repose their faith on Harshit Rana, who in turn had a good game in Perth, or will Akash Deep get the nod? The pacer from Bengal has been impressive in the practice sessions in the lead up to this Test match, especially with the pink ball.

Talking about the Pink-Ball Test, the hosts have a slight edge having played 12 of the 22 day-night Tests to date while losing only one of them, against the West Indies. On the other hand, India have played four Day-Night Tests so far, losing only one, against the same opposition, at the same venue, back in December 2020.

The hosts will be looking to win the Day-Night Test and level the five-match series after the embarrassing loss in Perth, while India will look to build on the lead they achieved at the Optus stadium.

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