IND vs AUS: Devdutt Padikkal at 3, Dhrul Jurel Over Sarfaraz Khan - Team India Finalize Batters For Perth Test?

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Team India may have just given a glimpse of their preferred batters for the first of the five-Test series in Australia during the practice session ahead of Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener in Perth.

India head into the Perth Test needing to fill two slots left vacant by Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. While Rohit remained back at home for the birth of his second child, Gill suffered a thumb injury, which ruled the young batter out of the series opener, scheduled to begin on Friday (November 22).

As the two batters, who make up the top three of the batting line-up, the Indian team management have been left with a task of picking their best playing 11 for the encounter on the potentially fast-paced wicket at the Optus Stadium in Perth.

Only four slots were confirmed in the form of star batter Virat Kohli, opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah, who will lead the bowling attack, which could be dominated by pacers.

Bowling may be the least of worries for Team India, but the concern was with how they line-up as batting unit after Rohit and Gill, who was backed to be the opener in place of the captain, were ruled out of the Perth Test.

However, going by the pictures shared by media personnel in Australia, one can take a wild guess at how India could line-up as a batting unit later this week. The Indian players were seen doing fielding drills before they batted in the nets at the WACA in Perth.

As per the pictures and reports, the Indian field drills and batting net session hinted about the potential India XI for the Perth Test. The top six of the Indian line up is likely to include Devdutt Padikkal, who was added to the squad as cover for the first Test.

Padikkal, who was part of the India A team that played India A earlier this month, is expected to come in as a direct replacement for Gill at number three in the batting order, while his Karnataka teammate KL Rahul will fill in for Rohit at the top of the order.

The top five batters were sorted as Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal will open followed by Padikkal at three, Kohli at his usual position of four and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant at number five.

In another change, Jurel, who has been picked in the squad as backup wicketkeeper, is likely to be preferred over Sarfaraz Khan for the middle-order spot. Jurel impressed during his outing for India A.

India is likely to play three pacers - Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep. Ravindra Jadeja is expected to get the nod as the spinner, while the number seven spot could be a toss up between Ravichandran Ashwin, Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy.

With the Perth pitch expected to aid the pace bowlers, Nitish could be set for his Test debut even though Sundar and Ashwin are both capable enough with the bat in the lower order.