Delhi: Cheteshwar Pujara has given his opinion on the playing-11 for the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia starting from December 14 in Brisbane. Pujara believes that India should give a chance to Washington Sundar in place of Ravichandran Ashwin in this match. Also, he has advised to retain fast bowler Harshit Rana despite his poor performance in the Adelaide Test.
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Washington Sundar had performed brilliantly with both bat and ball in the Perth Test, where India won by 295 runs. However, after this he was not included in the Adelaide Test and Ashwin was given a chance in his place. After Ashwin’s average performance in Adelaide and India’s 10-wicket defeat, speculation about Sundar’s comeback has intensified.
During a conversation on Star Sports, Pujara said, “I think there can be only one change in the team. It would be right to include Washington Sundar in place of Ashwin. Harshit Rana should be retained in the team. He performed well in the first Test, and it is not right to drop a player after one bad match.”
Pujara said in support of Rana that in the Perth Test he had taken a total of four wickets including three for 48 runs, while in Adelaide he was seen struggling, but removing him on the basis of failure of one match could bring down the morale of the team.
Pujara further said, “Harshit Rana is a good bowler. It would be unfair to drop him just because of one poor performance. If there is a need to strengthen the batting, then the best change would be to replace Ashwin with Sundar.”
India’s playing eleven suggested by Cheteshwar Pujara for the third test match is as follows –
Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Rohit Sharma (captain), Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
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