2nd Test: Rohit, Gill, Ashwin Back As India Opt To Bat First Vs Australia In Adelaide

Adelaide, Dec 6: Captain Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Ravichandran Ashwin are back into India’s playing eleven as the visitors’ won the toss and elected to bat first against Australia in the day-night Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test at the Adelaide Oval on Friday.

India are leading five-match series 1-0, after winning the series opener in Perth by 295 runs. Rohit, who missed the Perth Test due to birth of his second child, will bat at number six, while Gill is slotted at his usual number three spot and Ashwin will be India’s lone specialist spinner.

The trio come in place of Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel and Washington Sundar. "It looks a good pitch. It obviously looks a little dry at the moment but there's enough grass covering as well. I have been here for two weeks, and ready to go now.

"The mood is good, pretty vibrant. What the boys did in Perth was superb. It's a long series, we'll try and do most things right. The fast bowlers are happy (with the long break between Tests). We want to carry from where we left.

"I guess it will have some carry for the fast bowlers but as the game goes on it will get better to bat and there will be something in it for everyone. I'm batting in the middle order, which is different but I'm ready for the challenge," he said.

Australia had confirmed their lone change on the eve of the match Test: Seamer Scott Boland in for Josh Hazlewood, who is out of the match due to a side strain.

Australia are unbeaten in their seven pink-ball matches in Adelaide, while India play a day-night Test match for the first time after March 2022.

"That's right (we would have liked to bat first). But day one, pink ball, there might be a bit of nip there for us. It's good to have a fresh start. It's a venue we really love playing at. Pink ball can be a little bit different than red ball. Everyone can look back at success they've had in past games. We weren't at our best last week but we're itching to get out there," said skipper Pat Cummins.

Playing XIs-

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj

Australia: Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland

--IANS