Team India skipper Rohit Sharma finally took the big decision to drop fellow opener KL Rahul for the third Test against Australia beginning in Indore on Wednesday (March 1). Young opener Shubman Gill will replace Rahul at the top while India also decided to rest Mohammed Shami and brought in Umesh Yadav for this contest.
Rahul has scored just one half-century in his last 10 Test matches and his twin failures in the second Test against Australia in Delhi meant that he had to lose his vice-captaincy as well ahead of the Indore. Rahul averages an underwhelming 33.4 after 47 Tests.
#INDvAUS #INDvsAUS #BGT2023
Shubman Gill replaces KL Rahul in 3rd Test match.Fans : pic.twitter.com/5It2PWMyrF
— Cricket With Laresh (@Lareshhere) March 1, 2023
Rahul, who has failed to cross the 25-run mark in his last 10 Test innings, was removed as vice-captain following the second Test in Delhi, raising hopes of a change for the remaining two games.
Former India bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad has been scathing in his attack against KL Rahul over the last few weeks, calling for the Lucknow Super Giants skipper to be dropped. Rahul, who has aggregated 38 runs in three innings in the ongoing series, got out for just 1 in the second innings of the Delhi match.
“There is a view that KL Rahul has an outstanding overseas Test record. But stats speak otherwise. He has a test avg of 30 overseas in 56 innings. He has scored 6 overseas centuries but followed it up with a string of low scores that’s why averaging 30. Let’s look at a few others,” Prasad had tweeted.
There is a view that KL Rahul has an outstanding overseas Test record. But stats speak otherwise. He has a test avg of 30 overseas in 56 innings. He has scored 6 overseas centuries but followed it up with a string of low scores that’s why averaging 30. Let’s look at a few others pic.twitter.com/MAvHM01TcY
— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) February 20, 2023
“Shikhar Dhawan has the best overseas average amongst recent openers. Avg of nearly 40 with 5 100’s. Though he too hasn’t been consistent in Test but had Outstanding centuries in SL and NZ, plus a much better home record,” he added.
Australia have also been forced to make a couple of changes to their lineup. Skipper Pat Cummins has returned to Sydney to take care of his ailing mother while opener David Warner has also returned from the tour after an elbow injury.
Stand-in skipper Steve Smith replaced Cummins with Mitchell Starc and all-rounder Cameron Green comes in place of Warner.
India vs Australia 3rd Test Playing XI
India: Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma (c), Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, KS Bharat (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Australia: Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (C), Peter Handscomb, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Mathew Kuhnemann
