3 Indian players who should not be selected for the Test series in Australia

The Indian Test team have just lost the series in England with one match yet to be played. Except for Virat Kohli, the Indian batting line-up has been in poor form. The Indian openers especially have not been able to give good starts throughout the series so far.

Kohli's captaincy decisions too have been criticised to a certain extent along with those of the Indian coach Ravi Shastri. Hence, with Australia being the next destination of the Indian cricket team for Test matches in December, the team should reflect on their current performance and introspect on what went wrong in England.

The selectors too should take tough calls, drop those players who are out of form, and give chances to talented youngsters.

Let us have a look at the 3 players who should not be selected to play in Australia.

#3 Shikhar Dhawan

England v India: Specsavers 3rd Test - Day Two, Dhawan plays a shot on the on-side

Shikhar Dhawan has been provided lots of opportunities to prove himself as a quality top-order batsman. In spite of this, he has failed miserably outside the subcontinent, failing to convert the starts he has got into big scores. He has looked quite susceptible to the balls pitched just outside the off-stump.

In the current Test series in England, he has scored 158 runs in 6 innings at an average of just 26.33. Hence, his statistics, particularly in this series certainly do not justify his selection for the Test series in Australia and so India should look at elevating in his place a talented youngster like Prithvi Shaw who is playing quite well for the India A team.

Hence, it is high time that the Indian selectors consider dropping Shikhar Dhawan from the Indian Test squad.

#2 Hardik Pandya

England v India: Specsavers 3rd Test - Day Three

Hardik Pandya has contributed very rarely with the bat or the ball for India in his relatively short Test career so far. Being regarded by many as the next Kapil Dev of India, his performances in recent matches have certainly not justified this tag given to him by Indian cricket fans.

In England, Hardik Pandya has scored 164 runs at an average of 23.42 in 8 innings and has picked up just 10 wickets at an average of 24.70. Except for his 5 wicket haul in the 3rd Test, Pandya has been a complete disaster for India.

It has been also observed that Pandya has looked to play even Adil Rashid defensively in spite of being an attacking player against leg-spin. Hence, if Pandya cannot play his natural game Down Under then sadly it's time to drop him from the Test team.

#1 KL Rahul

England v India: Specsavers 3rd Test - Day Two

KL Rahul's poor performances in challenging conditions abroad have proved to be quite fatal for India. Despite having been given numerous opportunities, he has failed consistently to provide a good start for India and has repeatedly put the middle-order under pressure. He has been quite rash in his approach.

In England, he has so far scored just 113 runs in 8 innings at an average of 14.12. In South Africa too, he scored 30 runs in 4 innings at an average of 7.50. Hence, he deserves to be dropped immediately from the Test squad and should be sent to play domestic cricket in order to regain his place in the squad.

The Indian coaching staff should experiment by picking Rohit Sharma and sending him to open the innings in Australia. Being a good player of short-pitched bowling, he will be quite effective for India against the Australian pace attack.