Australia vs India: The visitors announce their playing XI for the Boxing Day Test

Team India flagged a massive blow ahead of the third Test against Australia. Ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is ruled out of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne as he failed to fully recover from an abdominal strain. The same news was confirmed by the Indian team management.

Ashwin earlier missed out on the second Test in Perth due to the same injury and there were clouds of uncertainty over his participation in Melbourne.  Ahead of the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), the management also announced the playing XI and there are a few tough calls made.

Playing XI announced

A day before the penultimate Test match of the series, the BCCI took it to Twitter to announce the playing XI. Both the openers, KL Rahul and Murali Vijay are axed for the third Test. Therefore, Mayank Agarwal is all set to make his long-awaited Test debut for India. Rohit Sharma makes his way back into the XI after missing out on the Perth Test due to an injury.

It could be either him or Hanuma Vihari who would open the innings along with Agarwal. Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane will continue to feature in the middle-order. Ravindra Jadeja is also induced into the XI and will replace Umesh Yadav from the previous game.

Interestingly, all-rounder, Hardik Pandya hasn’t found a spot for himself for the upcoming game. Rishabh Pant will continue to don the gloves and his role with the bat will be critical down the order. Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah will complete the pace attack. Bhuvneshwar Kumar finds no spot in the eleven yet again.

Playing XI of India for the 3rd Test: Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane (VC), Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah.

India name Playing XI for 3rd Test: Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane (VC), Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah #TeamIndia #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/DImj8BVTj5

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 24, 2018

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