India vs Australia 1st Test: Likely opening pair for India in Adelaide

With Mayank being an automatic selection for one of the two openers' slots, it would be interesting to see who will partner him as second opener in India playing 11

The Indian cricket team will play its first Test match after a nine-month break, when Virat Kohli leads his troops at the Adelaide Oval on November 17. India played its last Test match in New Zealand's Christchurch.
 
India would look to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and win its second Test series in Australia after stunning the hosts during the last tour. But to repeat the last tour’s success, India needs to set the tone for the four-match series in the first Test, which is going to be a day-night affair. It is imperative to have a stable, steady opening pair against Australia’s high-class pace attack, but this is one of India’s big weaknesses this time around.

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The constant changing and chopping of players at the openers slot due various reasons have put a lot of burden on the middle order. India has used three different opening pairs in the last two years. Rohit Sharma did well as an opener during South Africa home series and smashed two double tons. However, he got injured ahead of Test series against New Zealand and subsequently missed the rubber.

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Here are the various opening pairs that India can use:

Mayank Agarwal – Prithvi Shaw
 
Mayank Agarwal – KL Rahul
 
Mayank Agarwal – Shubman Gill
 
Business Standard takes a look at various opening players ahead of AUS vs IND first Test match:
 
Mayank Agarwal
 
Mayank would be an automatic selection for one of the two openers' slots as he displayed amazing form during the Indian Premier League 2020. Moreover, Mayank did well as an opener during India's previous tour of Australia, scoring two half-centuries in both the Tests he featured with an average of 65. Since that Australia series, Agarwal has partnered Rohit Sharma and Prithvi Shaw at the top of the batting order. In the warm-up match against Australia A, the 29-year-old right hander made a patient 61 in the second innings.
 

Mayank Agarwal record as an opener
Matches	Runs	Average	Hundreds	Fifties	Highest score
11	974	57.29	3	4	243

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Prithvi Shaw

Shaw emerged in the international arena after scoring a Test century in his debut game but an injury and a dope ban have marred his short career. In his last Test outing, Shaw went on to make just one fifty in four innings during the New Zealand tour while failing to go past 20 in the other three.
 
Shaw has also failed to rack up big scores in the two warm-ups, his best being a 29-ball 40 in the first innings of the second warm-up. The 21-year-old right-handed batsman, who played only four Tests, is also coming off a poor run in the second half of Indian Premier League. 

Prithvi Shaw as an opener
Matches	Runs	Average	Hundreds	Fifties	Highest score
7	335	55.83	1	2	134

 
KL Rahul
 
KL Rahul, who was Kohli’s deputy in the limited overs leg, was in great form, scoring 76 in the second ODI and a 51 in the first T20I. However, in the rest of the white-ball games, Rahul got out cheaply in search of big runs batting down the order in the ODIs. Despite the middling returns, Rahul's extraordinary season in the IPL, in which he was the top runscorer, could make him favourite to open with Agarwal as the other option if Shaw is out of form. However, various experts have criticised his selection in the Test squad on the basis of IPL form.
 
Still, Rahul’s experience of crafting a big score make him one of the ideal options for the opening slot.

KL Rahul as an opener
Matches	Runs	Average	Hundreds	Fifties	Highest score
33	1915	36.82	5	7	199

 
Shubman Gill
 
Shubman Gill also has an outside chance but the right-hander succeeded in the second warm-up, the day-night fixture, as a No 3 batsman, scoring 43 and 65. In the first warm-up, where he played as opener with the red ball, he got a duck and a 29.
 
India vs Australia 1st Test playing 11 prediction
 
India tentative playing 11: Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav/Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini/Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah.

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj.

India vs Australia Tests full schedule

Matches	Date	Time (IST)	Venue
First Test (D/N)	Dec 17-21	9:30 AM	Adelaide Oval
Second Test	Dec 26-30	5:00 AM	Melbourne Cricket Ground
Third Test	Jan 7-11	5:00 AM	Sydney Cricket Ground
Fourth Test	Jan 15-19	5:30 AM	The Gabba, Brisbane