{"id":18748,"date":"2021-01-06T07:19:20","date_gmt":"2021-01-06T08:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=18748"},"modified":"2021-01-06T09:25:29","modified_gmt":"2021-01-06T09:25:29","slug":"india-make-two-changes-for-third-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=18748","title":{"rendered":"India make two changes for third Test"},"content":{"rendered":"

India have made two changes to their XI for the Sydney Cricket Ground Test<\/a> against Australia, reinjecting superstar short-form specialist Rohit Sharma and presenting fast bowler Navdeep Saini his debut<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Opening batsman Mayank Agarwal has been axed for the third Test, which is set to start tomorrow, while paceman Umesh Yadav has been ruled out of the series due to the calf strain he sustained in the Boxing Day Test<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sharma, who's had more success in T20 and one-day international cricket but also averages 46.54 from 32 Tests, will partner one-Test young gun Shubman Gill<\/a> at the top of the order.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sharma hasn't played a cricket match since straining his hamstring in the 2020 Indian Premier League, while he hasn't featured in a Test since facing Bangladesh in Kolkata in November 2019.<\/p>\n

The hard-hitting right-hander played in India's first-ever Test series victory in Australia, in the 2018-19 summer, striking 106 runs at an average of 35.33 in two Tests.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/BCCI\/status\/1346713760363253762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Agarwal made his Test debut on that tour of Australia and finished the series with 195 runs at an average of 65 in two matches.<\/p>\n

But the 29-year-old struggled in the first two Tests of this series, managing just 17 runs at an average of 7.75.<\/p>\n

The selection panel have instead opted to retain 21-year-old Gill, who tallied 45 and 35 not out at the Melbourne Cricket Ground Test.<\/p>\n

The Punjabi has also piled up 2350 runs at an average of 69.11, and a top score of 268, across 24 first-class matches.<\/p>\n

Saini will form a bowling attack with Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The right-armer has taken 128 first-class wickets at an average of 28.46.<\/p>\n

He took 3-19 in the first innings of India A's SCG fixture against Australia A.<\/p>\n

However, Saini was frowned upon by many in the cricket world for the onslaught of bouncers he fired at Australia A tail-ender Harry Conway<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Australia and India are locked at one-all in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series with two Tests remaining.<\/p>\n

India XI for third Test:<\/strong> Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

India have made two changes to their XI for the Sydney Cricket Ground Test against Australia, reinjecting superstar short-form specialist Rohit Sharma and presenting fast […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18748"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18748"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18750,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18748\/revisions\/18750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}