Australia vs India 2018: Should India go with an unchanged side for Perth Test?

Ricky Ponting has suggested that despite the loss at Adelaide, Australia should have the same playing eleven at Perth. If a losing side prefers consistency in selection, there is no reason why a winning side should not do the same.

It is very likely that Virat Kohli will opt for an unchanged side at Perth and if he does, there won’t be much debate on that, as a history-making squad should be persisted with by all means.

However, despite the euphoria and the upbeat mood in the Indian camp, the selection of the playing eleven at Perth should not be a foregone conclusion. Kohli and Shastri must give a serious thought to the composition of the squad that will have the best chance to continue the winning run at Perth too.

The four-man Indian bowling attack had to work extremely hard for one and a half days to get the Aussies dismissed in the second innings. Usually, the Indian team under Kohli goes with five bowlers.

But this time they discarded the fifth bowler in favour of a sixth batsman in the form of Rohit Sharma. So, the workload for the four bowlers was significantly more.

With only three days until the Perth Test, is that enough time for the same set of Indian bowlers to get enough rest and be fresh for the second match? What if India has to bowl first? These are critical questions that need to be considered by the Indian think tank before finalizing the playing eleven.

The core of the team, of course, will remain the same. But there are a few slots that need to be reconsidered. With Ashwin getting the last Australian wicket, the debate about his position has been settled. And though he had a heavy workload, being a spinner, the wear and tear on his body should be relatively less compared to the pacers.

Though all three pacers bowled well at Adelaide, India should consider replacing one of them with either Umesh Yadav or Bhuvneshwar Kumar. So, instead of having three bowlers coming out of a tiring outing, they will have at least one pacer who will be fresh. In fact, it is not a bad idea to have a rotation policy for the fast bowlers in the series.

But if India goes with the same set of bowlers, they should at least consider having a fifth bowling option in the form of Hanuma Vihari who could replace Rohit at number six. That way, the batting strength will not be compromised and Kohli will not have to depend on the not-even-part-time bowling of Murali Vijay to give some rest to his frontline bowlers, as he had to do at Adelaide!