BGT 2024-25: 2 changes India should make in their playing 11 for 3rd test in Gabba

Australia levelled the BGT 2024-25 with a 10-wicket win in Adelaide.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 has got a lot more exciting with Australia levelling the series in Adelaide. The hosts bounced back from a 295-run defeat in Perth to clinch the day-night encounter in Adelaide by 10 wickets.

Mitchell Starc, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne and Pat Cummins played starring roles for Australia in their bumper win, while Nathan McSweeney and Scott Boland produced impressive performances too.

India, despite being bolstered by the return of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, produced horrendous batting performances, getting bowled out for 180 and 175 runs.

The Indian captain was clueless and the bowlers were out of ideas to stop a marauding Travis Head on day 2, while the batsmen, barring Nitish Kumar Reddy, surrendered too meekly to the Aussie pace trio.

India must make a couple of changes to their playing XI for the third test, which will be played at the Gabba in Brisbane, where the Asian giants scripted one of their most famous wins on the last trip.

BGT 2024-25: 2 changes India should make in their playing 11 for 3rd test in Gabba

Akash Deep/Prasidh Krishna IN, Harshit Rana OUT

One decision that India should make without giving it a second thought is to drop Harshit Rana. Yes, Rana had an impressive debut in Perth, which included a terrific ball to castle Travis Head, but he was out of his depths in Adelaide when Head started counter-attacking. He leaked 86 runs in 16 overs without any wicket.

It’s not Rana’s fault either: he came into the BGT 2024-25 with an experience of only 10 First-Class matches and without any significant experience of the red-ball game, let alone A tours, which was a key in the development of bowlers like Mohammed Siraj.

India have two options in their squad to replace Harshit: Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna.

Akash has featured in 36 First-Class matches, out of which five are test matches. In his five-test career, all games at home, Deep impressed with his ability to nip out left-handers from around the wicket, something India might want to use against the likes of Head and Khawaja in Brisbane.

The case for Prasidh’s inclusion is his extra height, which earned him two test matches in South Africa earlier. With his height, Prasidh can generate extra bounce on an already bouncy Gabba surface and target Head’s weakness against the short ball.

Washington Sundar IN, R Ashwin OUT

Another change which should be on the cards is the return of Washington Sundar in the XI, replacing R Ashwin. Sundar played in Perth, where he scored 29 runs in India’s second innings and took two tailenders out in Australia’s second innings. He also scored 42* in the warm-up match, but was replaced by R Ashwin as India’s batting had been strengthened – apparently not – with the return of Rohit and Gill.

In Adelaide, Ashwin scored 29 runs in two innings and did well with the ball, conceding 53 runs in 18 overs with the wicket of Mitchell Marsh.

What could tilt the case in Sundar’s favor is the record of these two players in Brisbane. Sundar played a key role in India’s epic win at the Gabba in 2021. He picked up four wickets in the match and scored crucial 62 runs.

On the other hand, Ashwin played on test match at the Gabba on the 2014/15 trip, in which he scored 54 runs but was ineffective with the ball, registering figures of 2/128.

Sundar is clearly in a much better form currently than Ashwin. With the Gabba expected to be another pace-friendly wicket, India should look to have the extra cushion of batting that Sundar provides over Ashwin and the youngster can be relied upon to provide control with the ball as well.

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