Xtra Time Web Desk: The Indian team management will be in a dilemma as to who will stand behind the wickets for the first Day Night test match against Australia starting from Thursday at the Adelaide Oval. Whether the think tank prefers Wriddhiman Saha’s superior glovework or Rishabh Pant’s confident batting, will be hotly debated in the next few days.
The Bengal stumper scored a valiant 54, which bailed the team from an embarrassing loss against Australia A in the first three day practice match. The visitors were in a spot losing 9 wickets for 143 runs, but Saha came to the rescue as he guided young Kartik Tyagi to save the match. It is more creditable as the runs he scored came against an attack comprising of James Pattinson, Michael Neser and Cameron Green.
Compared to that, Pant came after India had already taken control of the pink ball dress rehearsal with leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson and part-timer Nick Maddinson in operation. All the hard work was done by Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal and Hanuma Vihari before Pant joined the proceedings.
In fact, the home team bowlers had given up the fight midway through his innings, something that invited harsh criticism from former World Cup-winning captain Allan Border, who termed the bowling an “absolute disgrace” while wearing an Australia A jersey.
Saha averages 30 plus in 37 Tests with 1238 runs and three hundreds in his kitty. Besides, he has 103 dismissals behind the stumps, including 92 catches and 11 stumpings.
The next couple of practice sessions will give a fair idea as to who will keep wickets in the series opener at the Adelaide Oval.