The much-awaited Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023 is just a day away from getting started at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur from Thursday (February 9). Ahead of the start of the prominent four-match series between India and Australia, India’s veteran wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik has predicted the playing eleven of the host nation for the first match.
Shubman Gill, who scored a brilliant double ton against New Zealand in the recently concluded ODI series and a brilliant century against the same opponents in the T20I format, was not picked by Karthik in his team.
Karthik picked Suryakumar Yadav in his starting eleven for the fifth spot instead of in-form Gill. Notably, it is a maiden call-up for Surya in the Tests as he is yet to debut in the longest format.
KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are the openers in Karthik’s team, while his other picks as batters include Chetashwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, with KS Bharat in the wicketkeeper-batter role.
On the other hand, Karthik included three spinners in his team, namely Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel but left out Kuldeep Yadav. However, the reason behind the 37-year-old picking Axar over Kuldeep seems to be the Gujarat cricketer’s ability to both bat and bowl.
The pace attack of Karthik’s eleven consists of Mohammed Shami supported by Mohammed Siraj.
My 11 for first test 😊
Kl
Rohit
Pujara
Virat
SKY
Jadeja
K S Bharat
Ashwin
Axar
Shami
Siraj #BGT2023 #1stTest#IndiaVsAustralia— DK (@DineshKarthik) February 8, 2023
Earlier talking about the spinners’ importance in the game Karthik in a reel shared on his Instagram page, had said: “For me, this series is all about spinners with two best spinners on both sides. R Ashwin for India has a massive mental edge over Australia and Nathan Lyon for Australia, if he gets going he is definitely gonna be a thorn in India’s flesh.”
Shreyas Iyer will not play the first test match in Nagpur due to an injury, so we might expect Suryakumar to make his debut. But at the same time, it would be a tough call for the Indian side to drop in-form Gill. Although the world no. 1 T20I batter’s skill to play spin and score quick runs might get him a place in the playing eleven of the opening game.
