It’s a series both India and Australia would have loved to go into with their best possible XIs. But that hasn’t been the case. Australia have been plagued by injuries to their champion pace duo of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. For India, the situation is a little different, with two top-order slots suddenly opening up because of injuries to Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant.
The two had become crucial cogs in the Indian wheel, but now that the duo is unavailable, Team India has been left with no other options but to bring in replacements. While it is virtually impossible to find a like-for-like replacement for the dynamic Pant — one of India’s biggest match-winners in recent times — India have a few options for Iyer’s spot.
