Virat Kohli pulled off another selection surprise as Australia captain Tim Paine won the toss and elected to bat in scorching hot conditions in the second Test against India at the new Perth Stadium on Friday.
India lead the series 1-0 after a 31-run win in Adelaide and made two changes with key spinner R Ashwin and Rohit Sharma ruled out injured.
All-rounder Hanuma Vihari, who can bowl off-spin, is in for Sharma but it was Kohli opting for Umesh Yadav as Ashwin’s replacement, meaning they go into the Test with an all-pace attack, that raised a few eyebrows.
In a survey published by Scroll on Thursday, after India announced a 13-member squad, Umesh received the least number of votes. While nine players who were available from the Adelaide Test got the most number of votes, obviously, the fight for the remaining two spots was down to four players.
Ravindra Jadeja - 58%
Hanuma Vihari - 53%
Bhuvneshwar Kumar - 57%
Umesh Yadav - 19%
Australia were unchanged with Aaron Finch opening the batting with rookie Marcus Harris.
“Obviously it is very warm today and I said this wicket will crack up under the hot weather,” Paine said. “Everyone has recovered really well and we’re raring to go.”
India captain Kohli said he would have batted as well, with temperatures due to nudge 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit).
“But it’s not a bad thing to bowl on day one on a wicket which has a lot of grass. We are happy with whatever we are going to do,” he said.
India are fielding an XI without a specialist spinner:
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) December 14, 2018
v Aus, SCG, 1992 (Srinath, Subroto Banarjee, Kapil, Prabhakar)
v Aus, WACA, 2012 (Ishant, Zaheer, Umesh, Vinay)
v SA, Joburg, 2018 (Ishant, Bumrah, Shami, Bhuvi, Hardik)
v Aus, Perth, 2018#AUSvIND
His selection call — not including a spinner or Bhuvneshwar Kumar, mainly — created a debate among fans on Twitter.
Brave call by India to go in with four quicks. It means there are four tail-end batsmen but Kohli is backing his frontline batsmen to do their job and telling the bowlers to do theirs
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) December 14, 2018
No frontline spinner for India & a four man pace attack. How times have changed. Kohli said he would've batted but the toss result suits India's team selection giving them first go on a green pitch with four quicks & not bowling last without a spinner. #AUSvIND
— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) December 14, 2018
Going in with 4 seamers is one thing, without Ashwin or Jadeja it makes the batting a little lighter that none of the #TeamIndia seamers can make a realistic Batting contribution #AUSvIND #PerthTest
— subramani badrinath (@s_badrinath) December 14, 2018
Ishant, bumrah, Umesh, Shami: pace like fire, maan
— Sidvee (@sidvee) December 14, 2018
Think India have made a mistake not playing @imjadeja ... Not only for his bowling but his Batting at No 8 ... India have a very long tail this Week ... Aussies to win ... #AUSvIND #Perth
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) December 14, 2018
#AUSvIND back here in Mumbai, guests Clarke, Gavaskar & Manjrekar all went for a spinner in the Indian line up before the toss - reckon they were right! 🇦🇺🇮🇳
— mark butcher (@markbutcher72) December 14, 2018
Remember Buvi in the first 30 mins in Cape Town. Had to play.
— Mike Haysman (@MikeHaysman) December 14, 2018
Bhuvaneshwar or Umesh has become the talking point before start of play. India have gone for the latter’s greater pace rather than Bhuvi’s swing and seam. Agree?
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) December 14, 2018
Picking Umesh over Bhuvneshwar means Kohli isn't too fussed with all the live grass. He knows it will turn brown in no time in this Perth heat.
— Pratyush Sinha (@prat1204) December 14, 2018
Umesh bowled really well in Perth last time so that may have been the clincher
— shyam (@shyam__bala) December 14, 2018
Everyone to criticize Kohli for Umesh selection and Umesh to slap everyone on the face with a fifer.
— Abhishek (@Sajjanlaunda) December 14, 2018
It’s very convenient to say Vihari adds utility as a bowler. Truth is he’s a part-timer among part-timers. Got those three wickets when England’s batsmen were looking for a declaration.
— Shashank Kishore (@captainshanky) December 14, 2018
Umesh Yadav. Wow. Does this mean Ishant at No. 8?
— Karthik Krishnaswamy (@the_kk) December 14, 2018
Half-guessed Vihari and a pacer... thought it would be Bhuvi but its Umesh. Guess there always has to be some unpredictability about selection. #AusvInd
— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) December 14, 2018
Given the green on the surface, I would’ve preferred Bhuvi over Umesh. Also, the batting Bhuvi brings to the table... #ausvInd #7cricket @Channel7 @1116sen
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) December 14, 2018
Save this tweet for future reference.
— SwingAndSeam (@swing_seam) December 14, 2018
- If umesh bowls crap, we'll pin point everything on his selection over Bhuvi/Jadeja.
- If umesh bowls well, then all is well & ignorance is bliss.
Come on, twitter. Do ya thing. "Lessszzzzooo" #INDvAUS
But there were other problems with this selection call. Like...
The worst thing about India playing all quicks is that it means Rishabh Pant won't be keeping up to the stumps mic. #AUSvIND
— Melinda Farrell (@melindafarrell) December 14, 2018