India confidence 'damaged' as Rohit, Gill doubts swirl

Marnus Labuschagne believes India's confidence has been dented by their shock recent series defeat to New Zealand, as the visitors contend with replacing up to three first-choice players for the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test.

India on Tuesday got their first look at the cavernous Perth Stadium since arriving in the Western Australia capital in a training hit-out that was notable as much for who did not participate as who did.

With captain Rohit Sharma yet to join the squad and appearing certain to miss the series opener, Shubman Gill remained absent after suffering a suspected thumb fracture at fielding practice on Saturday.

The loss of both would rob India of two of their incumbent top-three batters against the vaunted Australian bowling attack and on a ground where the hosts have never lost a Test.

Australia know too well not to make light of a depleted Indian touring party given the remarkable series win they pulled off on these shores in 2020-21. But Labuschagne suggested their first home Test series loss in 12 years will have been a considerable blow.

"It's really hard to judge. They played in completely different conditions, spinning conditions (against NZ), but having India come here off the back of a loss at home is something that's never happened before (in his career)," Labuschagne told reporters.

"I think that's a good thing in terms of they're probably a little bit lower on confidence, not coming off a Test victory, losing to New Zealand 3-0.

"I think that's going to do a little bit of damage to their confidence.

"But they're a quality line-up and they're one of the best teams in the world. So you can never underestimate a team like that."

The sight of KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal entering the Perth Stadium nets as the first two Indian batters to begin India’s net session indicates that duo is in the frame to fill the opener and first-drop spots respectively if Rohit and Gill are unavailable. 

Rahul showed no ill-effects from the knock to the elbow he copped during a centre-wicket practice session at the WACA Ground last week.

Padikkal batted in an adjoining net, while back-up keeper Dhruv Jurel was also in the main batting group alongside the likes of Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant. Their hits were cut short by late-morning rain.

Opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, who unlike Padikkal was in India's originally named Test squad, did not bat with that main group.

Padikkal, the wiry left-hander who has stayed back after India A tour but is not part of the listed India Test squad, and 53-Test veteran Rahul had earlier taken extensive turns in slips-catching practice on the main arena.

Jurel, flown to Australia early along with Rahul to play against Australia A at the MCG, impressed his opponents with scores of 68 and 80, soaking up more than 300 balls on a pitch that offered significant seam movement all match.

"Even though he’s a wicketkeeper, from what I’ve seen on this tour and from India’s batting in the last couple of months, I’d be staggered if he doesn’t play (in the Test series)," former Test captain Tim Paine, an assistant coach for Australia A, told SEN recently.

"He scored one of the more polished 80s I’ve seen, and we were all sitting around as staff of Cricket Australia and thought, 'Wow, this guy can seriously play'."

Jurel has previously only played three Tests as a keeper at Test level, filling in when Pant was injured, but could be considered if speculation in the Indian press that selectors are looking to replace Sarfraz Khan is correct.

On the bowling front, India will need to make a call on whether to play both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, or play four seamers along with Jadeja. Mohammad Shami made an encouraging return to cricket after a year-long injury battle but remains out of the frame for now.

The BCCI has not formally ruled out Rohit or Gill for the first Test, and the Indian team have yet to front a press conference since arriving in the country.

Labuschagne, who scored a first-innings century in the famous 2021 Gabba Test in which the Ajinkya Rahane-captained side pulled off an improbable series victory in Australia, has a long memory when it comes to Indian Test teams with a mounting injury toll.

"That's what happened in 2021 – the likes of (T) Natarajan played, (Mohammad) Siraj got his first crack in Australia, Washington Sundar played," said the Queenslander.

"They had all these guys that were probably a little bit new – Shubman played those couple of games (in the 2020-21 series) – so there were new faces around.

"But they're a quality lineup and they've showed that over a period of time. You can't ever underestimate the depth of Indian cricket.

"Anyone that's gets the opportunity to play for India have had to do a lot of hard work and find their way into that side … to actually play for a team like that, you have to be a very good player."

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: November 22-26: Perth Stadium, 1.20pm AEDT

Second Test: December 6-10: Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (D/N)

Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: (first Test only) Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed