Mumbai: From all indications during India’s first training session at the Optus Stadium, venue for the first Test in Perth starting on Friday, KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal seem front-runners to fill in the hole left by the unavailability of Rohit Sharma (paternity leave) and Shubman Gill (injured) in the top-order. Dhruv Jurel is likely to play as a specialist batter in the middle-order.

It will be in line with the Indian team management’s mantra of horses for courses under coach Gautam Gambhir. Padikkal, who originally went with the India A squad, was asked to stay back after Gill fractured his thumb while fielding. As India had their first hit at the Test venue on Tuesday, the coaching staff gave special attention to the three, besides the first-choice players.

At India’s net session, Rahul and Padikkal were the first batters to be given a hit, an indication that they are in the frame to fill the opener and No.3 slots respectively. Rahul, who was struck on the elbow by a rising delivery on the first day of the intra-squad practice match, batted without discomfort. Padikkal batted in an adjoining net. Jurel also had a long net session, alongside Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant.

The Optus Stadium pitch is expected to offer pace and bounce. All set to partner Jaiswal at the top of the order, Rahul, who has played most of his career as a specialist opener, will have to use all his experience to adapt to the conditions. On his Test debut against England at Dharamsala in March, Padikkal batted at No.4, scoring 65. At Perth, the left-hander is being seen as a replacement for Gill at No.3. With Kohli at No.4 and Pant at No.5, Jurel is likely to be asked to bat at No.6.

Playing for India A in the second unofficial Test at the MCG, Jurel impressed with his technique to handle the bounce and movement. Padikkal was among the runs in the first game against Australia A at Mackay and also spent time at the crease in the MCG game. As per reports, the two also shaped up well in the intra-squad practice match at the WACA Ground last week.

India, the world No.2 side, are heading into the five-Test Border-Gavaskar series after a whitewash against New Zealand at home, which ended their 12-year unbeaten Test series run in their backyard. And they are far from a settled unit, leaving them vulnerable against an Australian side determined to make amends after losing the last two series against India at home.

Addressing the media on Tuesday, Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne said the defeat to New Zealand would have “damaged” the confidence of the Indian players, but the Aussies won’t underestimate their opponents. “It’s really hard to judge (India’s form). They played in completely different conditions, spinning conditions, but having India come here off the back of a loss at home is something that’s never happened before (in his career),” the Aussie No.3 batter said.

“It’s a good thing in terms of they’re probably a little bit lower on confidence, not coming off a Test victory. 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,” Labuschagne said.

Australian players are not writing off India’s chances in the series also because of their heroics in the 2020-21 series when India pulled off an incredible victory the final Test at Brisbane despite injuries to several of their first-choice players. “That’s what happened in 2021 — the likes of (T) Natarajan played, (Mohammed) Siraj got his first crack in Australia, Washington Sundar played,” he said. “They had all these guys that were probably a little bit new — Shubman (Gill) played those couple of games – so there were new faces around.”

He added: “They’re a quality line-up and they’ve showed that over a period of time. You can’t ever underestimate the depth of Indian cricket. Anyone who 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.”

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