Rahul dropped, one spinner in; IND, AUS declare team for 3rd Test

Indian team management has finally decided to drop under performing KL Rahul and have taken the bold decision to give Mayank Agarwal his maiden Test cap in the Boxing Day Test.

Mayank Agarwal to debut, Jadeja in

India team management has decided to drop KL Rahul who has done very little in the recent tour of England and the ongoing series against Australia except for the hundred in the 5th Test against England.

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

Mayanl Agarwal who is scoring big runs in domestic cricket has been rewarded for his good show and will get an opportunity to showcase his mettle at Melbourne.

Meanwhile Murali Vijay has been dropped as well due to his mediocre performance in the two Tests.

Interestingly, India has decided to include one spinner in the playing XI and it will be the left-hand spinner Ravindra Jadeja.

Ravi Shastri had recently declared that Jadeja was unfit and hence wasn’t included in the team for the Perth Test but then BCCI announced that the left-arm spinner is fit and is available for the third Test.

Umesh dropped, Bhuvi ignored

India have also dropped Umesh Yadav from the team as he was expensive in the second Test. Jadeja replaces Yadav in the team.

Rohit Sharma will accompany Cheteshwar Pujara, Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane in the batting order while the trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami will handle India’s pace bowling department.

Also read: AUS vs IND 3rd Test: 3 players to watch 

Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been ignored once again while Hardik Pandya too will be warming the benches.He was added in the team after the second Test.

AUs declare their playing XI

The hosts too have declared their playing XI for third Test. As expected Mitchell Marsh comes in to replace Peter Handscomb.

AUS playing XI-

Aaron Finch, Marcus Harris, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (c), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

Tim Paine explains the change to Australia’s XI for the Boxing Day Test #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/kJAWiMebFV

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 25, 2018

India’s team for Boxing Day 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.