India vs Australia: Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Hanuma Vihari in contention for No. 6; opening conundrum continues

MELBOURNE: Skipper Virat Kohli sweated it out with his teammates at the MCG nets for the second day running, but there was no clarity over how Team India will line up for the Boxing Day Test.
The injury concerns ebbed somewhat with Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja all looking in fine fettle — bowling and batting comfortably during Monday afternoon’s practice session. The Indian team management will have 19 players to choose from when they meet to finalise the playing XI.
The No.6 spot remains the bone of contention with as many as three players — Rohit, Hardik Pandya and Hanuma Vihari — all laying claim to it. He may be short on match practice, but including Pandya will allow the team management to field five bowlers without disturbing the balance of the side.
The opening spots are another headache. India, incidentally, have not posted a century partnership for the first wicket in their last 66 innings in South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia. Irrespective of whether they stick with the struggling opening pair of Murali Vijay and KL Rahul or give young Mayank Agarwal a chance, the Indian team management will have to make sure that the 11 players who take the field are ready to go all out to regain the series lead.
For, make no mistake, the Aussies — who were down after taking a hit in Adelaide — have their tails up again after getting even at Perth. And they will pull out all stops in a bid to prevent India from stealing the thunder in the Boxing Day Test in which the home team has traditionally fared better.
The jury is still out on how the pitch here will play, but given the green tinge to it, there should be enough moisture to help for pacers early on.
Australian selectors have hit the jackpot by bringing together four world-class bowlers in Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon and there is no doubt they will rely on this quartet to demolish India’s batting — with a little help from all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who is likely to be used as a back-up bowler just in case the MCG pitch flattens out.
Indian bowlers, too, have not done badly so far. Led by the pacers, the bowling unit has regularly picked 20 wickets since their tour of South Africa. It is, however, time for Indian batsmen to make a statement.
In the two Tests so far, only Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli have let their willow talk to keep India in the hunt. It will be a tall order for the visitors to get the result they want if they don’t bat well and deep here.
The challenge before India’s batting unit is two-fold — blunt the cutting edge of Australian pacers by seeing off the new ball without losing too many wickets up front and use their feet to negate the threat from off-spinner Lyon, who has taken 16 wickets in two matches.
India’s attack will be bolstered considerably if Ashwin is fit to return to the fold. Even though Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav are also available, it is unlikely that India will go in with two spinners.
Two of India’s six Test victories on Australian soil have, incidentally, been achieved at MCG — by 222 runs in 1977-78 under Bishan Bedi and by 59 runs in 1980-81 under Sunil Gavaskar. It will require a heroic effort — similar to Bhagwat Chandrasekhar’s (6/52 & 6/52) in 1977-78 or GR Vishwanath’s (114 & 30) in 1980-81 — to usher in an Indian summer at the MCG once again.