Former India National Cricket Team off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has opined that the veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is likely to be dropped from the playing XI for the third Test against Australia National Cricket Team.
Harbhajan Singh also believes that the young pacer Harshit Rana might have to make way for Prasidh Krishna in the Brisbane Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
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I don’t think there will be any change in the batting order – Harbhajan Singh
Speaking on the Star Sports show ‘Follow the Blues’, Harbhajan Singh said that India will not make any changes to the batting order and KL Rahul will continue to open the innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal followed by Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma in the batting order.
The spin-bowling legend feels that pushing Rohit Sharma to the top order once again won’t do any good to the team because the Indian skipper is going through a lean patch.
“I don’t think there will be any change in the batting order. I feel the batting order will be like this only. We discussed yesterday on the show that Rohit Sharma should probably come up with the order. (Sunil) Gavaskar sahab also said that, but I feel the team management will not think like that,” he said.
“They will probably go with the same kind of batting order that worked for them in Perth. Rohit is also not in great form. So why would you send him (Rohit) up the order when he is not in form? I feel you should start with KL Rahul and Yashasvi (Jaiswal) only, and Rohit should bat in the middle order,” he added.
Notably, Rohit Sharma has failed miserably in his last 12 innings in Test cricket and has also lost 4 consecutive matches as skipper in the longest format of the game.
Washington Sundar might come back and play in Brisbane – Harbhajan Singh
Washington Sundar was dropped from India’s playing XI in Adelaide’s pink-ball Test match despite his decent contributions in the Perth Test win.
Sundar was replaced by veteran Ravichandran Ashwin as the Indian team management felt that he could be highly impactful with the ball. However, that didn’t happen as Ashwin bagged just one wicket in the match. Harbhajan Singh, meanwhile, feels that Sundar will return to the side in the Brisbane Test. He stated:
“I feel we might see one change. Washington Sundar might come back and play in Brisbane.
“Although Ashwin didn’t bowl much and didn’t get much opportunity to do anything special, the way Washington Sundar’s first match went, he picked up two wickets and is slightly better with the bat, I feel he will be played.”
I feel we will see one change in fast bowling. Prasidh Krishna can probably play – Harbhajan Singh
The legendary spinner further stated that the tall pacer Prasidh Krishna could play the Gabba Test and replace Harshit Rana. He believes that Krishna will be very impactful on the fast pitch and can deliver a good performance.
“I feel we will see one change in fast bowling. Prasidh Krishna can probably play in place of Harshit Rana. He has the height and can get the ball to bounce. I feel he can be quite handy on that fast wicket,” Harbhajan said.
Notably, Rana has come under severe criticism after he failed in the pink-ball Test match with many claiming that he is still undercooked and not ready for Test cricket
In his debut Test in Perth, Harshit registered the bowling figures of 3/48 & 1/69. However, in the Adelaide Test, he looked very poor and had the figures of 0/86 along with a double duck with the bat.