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Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has named his preferred Team India playing XI for the Boxing Day Test against South Africa, which begins at the SuperSport Park in Centurion on Tuesday, December 26.
The former India captain has backed Yashasvi Jaiswal to open with Rohit Sharma and slotted in Shubman Gill at No. 3. He also picked two spinners in Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, while leaving out pace-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur.
Having drawn the T20I series and won the ODI series, India are now set to take on the Proteas in a two-match Test series. The visitors have never won a red-ball series in the Rainbow Nation even though they have come close a few times in recent years.
India’s team combination for the opening Test has been a big talking point in recent days. Speaking to Star Sports, Gavaskar named his preferred playing XI.
Picking Jaiswal as Rohit’s opening partner ahead of Gill, he commented:
“My playing XI is going be very simple. The openers will be Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma - the captain. No. 3 Shubman Gill, No. 4 [Virat] Kohli, No. 5 KL Rahul and No. 6 Shreyas Iyer."
Gavaskar chose off-spinner Ashwin over pacer Thakur and said:
“5 and 6 can move, and after that will be Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.”
Speaking of the pace bowling department, India will be without the services of seasoned fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who has been ruled out due to injury. While Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj pick themselves in the playing XI, Mukesh Kumar or Prasidh Krishna could replace Shami. Gavaskar went for Mukesh.
“Then I'll have three fast bowlers - Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj,” Gavaskar added.
Krishna recently picked up a five-wicket haul for India ‘A’ against South Africa ‘A’ in the first Unofficial Test at Potchefstroom. As for Mukesh, he was part of the white ball series in South Africa and came up with some impressive performances.
Sunil Gavaskar's preferred India XI for the 1st Test against South Africa:
Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
Meanwhile, Team India head coach Rahul Dravid confirmed at a pre-match press conference on Sunday, December 24 that Rahul will keep wickets during the two-match Test series. Earlier, Ishan Kishan had pulled out citing personal reasons, and was replaced by KS Bharat.
