Indian team has shown sense rather than sensitivity in selection

The last overseas Test when India fielded more than one debutante was played at Kingston, in 2011. Virat Kohli, Abhinav Mukund, and Praveen Kumar had received their maiden caps. Almost a decade later, India's team sheet for the Boxing Day bout holds a couple of names who'll get their first taste of international cricket in white flannels. Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj are the lucky ones for whom Christmas arrived a day early while Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant will also feature in India's endeavour to equalize. 

Despite plummeting to an unfathomable nadir at Adelaide, the visitors have not lost their marbles and refrained from haphazard chopping and changing. The tweaks that have been made are based on intellect rather than instinct born out of the debacle that transpired a week ago. Prithvi Shaw had looked like a fish out of water during his double failures and those hard hands screamed for some course correction behind the curtains. Gill seemed to the manor born during his lengthy net stints and thus emerged as a clear winner in the comparison between the two youngsters. India's embarrassment of riches in the batting department means that they might have been tempted to stuff in KL Rahul too, but it would have been a grave injustice to Hanuma Vihari who incidentally opened the innings at the MCG two years ago. Although he managed a pedestrian 8 and 13, the time he bided at the crease helped take the edge off the new ball. 

It's seldom that India ponder upon a five-pronged attack this early on away shores but Ravindra Jadeja's inclusion is more of a shock absorber to the ailing batting than a genuine endorsement of his left-arm spin. The three-dimensional cricketer's involvement was subject to match fitness and once that hurdle was crossed, it was pretty much a no-brainer of sorts, given his recent contributions with the bat. Australia have left nothing to chance and ensured their preparations were in fine fettle should Jadeja return, with assistant coach Sridharan Sriram keeping a vigilant eye on the middle-order batsmen in particular. 

Jadeja has never been a wicket-monger in alien conditions. Few spinners are, but his penny-pinching line and lengths are tailored bespoke for a stranglehold which in turn allows his partner-in-crime, Ravichandran Ashwin, the leverage to dent the opposition. If you jog down the memory lane, you might even recollect that the experienced campaigner seized 2/45 at an exemplary economy of 1.8 during the first innings and three critical wickets in the second as India won by 137 runs in their last outing at the same venue. This will also be just the third instance of spin twins Jadeja and Ashwin plying their trade together in a Test outside the subcontinent, after Manchester, 2014 and Gros Islet, 2016.

Given that the spotlight was on Saini as India trained for redemption, or so it was deemed by the organic flow of things, conjecture had it that the express paceman was the front runner in the dash for the debut among the speed dealers. However, the official team announcement didn't bode well with the speculations. Siraj pipped Saini in the race thanks to his relatively superior control and consistency and everyone knows how that's the need of the hour as India venture into only their second Test outside Asia and West Indies without Mohammed Shami or Ishant Sharma since 2007. 

Pant donning the keeping gloves at the expense of Wriddhiman Saha, again, wasn't a rush-of-blood decision on the management's part. The swap found its roots in the manner of the senior pro's dismissals in the series opener which cried of lack of application. He flung his blade at a loose - scratch that - country-mile wide tempter in the first essay while doled out some benevolent catching practice to forward short leg in what might have proved to be his final dig of the tour if the sheer flamboyance of Pant cuts the mustard.

Pant was the last person to leave the net on Thursday, December 24, having spent a copious hour and a half batting under the watchful gaze of coach Ravi Shastri. The duo exchanged notes on occasions when Pant's head position fell over to an inward tailing delivery and resulted in an awkward flick, a technical glitch that spelt his doom in the first innings of the practice game at the SCG. Barring those solitary lapses in concentration, Pant was at his imperious best as Saini and Thangarasu Natarajan wheeled away to no end. The lone offerings of respect were reserved for Ashwin, against whom he focused entirely on defensive sustenance. He even picked the brains of the premier offie on whether his movements were sound and strokeplay neat, and was more often than not met with a nod of approval. 

Despite the prevailing void of Virat Kohli and Shami's absence, India pack a punch with such an optimized squad balance. And that's not glancing from a biased perspective. If Ajinkya Rahane and his troops start afresh with a renewed sense of purpose, they are more than capable of exorcising the ghosts of 36 all out. But unless and until there's an immediate and appreciable revamp in the catching and batting departments, all those changes in personnel would come down to a mere shuffling of deckchairs.

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