Top-order worries remain as India eye another big win in Pujara's 100th Test

KL Rahuls prolonged run of failures remains a worry but India will still start as overwhelming favourites for another threeday finish when they take on Australia in the second Test here from FridayThe match will be one of Indian crickets understated warrior Cheteshwar Pujaras 100th Test a feat achieved after 13 years of sweat and toilWhile Pujara would like to savour the momentous personal milestone with a 20th Test ton one cant but paper over the concerns around Indias toporderSave skipper Rohit Sharma who was regal in attack and classical in defence during his hundred on a slow turner in Nagpur the others failed to get going in the opener Besides Rahul the list of strugglers includes the peerless Virat Kohli and to an extent PujaraKohli is leaving no stone unturned to up the ante while facing the spinners Round two of Kohli versus Nathan Lyon and Todd Murphy could be equally enticingAlso Read BorderGavaskar Trophy Pressed into inactionRahul and his woesTime is running out for Rahul as Virat Kohlis heir apparent Shubman Gill is waiting in the wings despite being in prime formHaving wasted so many opportunities in his 46Test career with a below par average of 34 it will be interesting to see what call is taken by the Indian team management if the 30yearold Karnataka man endures another failure before the squad for the last two Tests is announcedWith Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja putting enormous pressure on the Australians during the hosts comprehensive innings win in Nagpur one can confidently say that another slow turner will greet the visitors at the Ferozshah KotlaUnless Australia bat out of their skin they wont even be able to stretch it to the fifth dayThe Ferozshah Kotla tracks after the initial moisture dries up turn as dead as a dodoIndia head coach Rahul Dravid had no hesitation in admitting that in the recent past it has been the middleorder troika of Ravindra Jadeja the nowinjured Rishabh Pant and the fitagain Shreyas Iyer that has bailed the team out on most occasionsEven in the opening Test it was left to the duo of Axar Patel and Jadeja to outbat AustraliaThe Kotla pitch promises to be a touch slower than Jamtha and hence the Indian batters need to follow their skippers template and employ a judicious blend of attack with defenceWith shorter boundary on one side Australia skipper Pat Cummins will be wary of bringing in Nathan Lyon from the Old Pavilion end as the leg side boundary would be barely 60 metresShreyas Iyer or one more game for SKYShreyas Iyer has completed his rehab after suffering a lower back injury and as per the current team managements convention any player who was performing before getting injured would get his place back in the playing XIDravid in fact said that if Iyer is able to take workload of fiveday Test he will walk into the sideIf anyone knows Dravid the operatives are always between the linesIyer hasnt played competitive cricket for more than 30 days and will it be risky to throw him straight into a Test match even before checking his match fitness Thats a tricky callIn the case of Surya more than being Iyers replacement India is looking at him replicating Pants cavalier approach in the middleorder as Kona Bharat is more of a keeper who can also bat decentlyWill Warner get another chanceDavid Warners lean patch in Test matches has been a matter of concern for Australia The manner in which Mohammed Shami sent his off stump cartwheeling didnt make for a pretty picture and whether he gets another chance remains to be seenHaving already brought in an additional left arm spinner in Matt Kuhneman in the squad it will also be interesting to see whether Australia decide to go with three tweakersMitchell Starc if fit could replace Scott Boland as the Kotla pitch with no tangible help off the surface could seriously dent the confidence of the burly VictorianTeamsIndia Rohit Sharma captain KL Rahul Cheteshwar Pujara Virat Kohli Shubman Gill Ravindra Jadeja KS Bharat wk Ravichandran Ashwin Axar Patel Mohammed Shami Mohammed Siraj Kuldeep Yadav Suryakumar Yadav Umesh Yadav Ishan Kishan wkAustralia Pat Cummins captain David Warner Usman Khawaja Marnus Labuschagne Steve Smith Travis Head Alex Carey wk Matt Renshaw Peter Handscombe Nathan Lyon Ashton Agar Scott Boland Lance Morris Mitchell Swepson Todd Murphy Josh Hazlewood unavailable Cameron Green unavailable Mitchell Starc from 2nd TestMatch starts 930 amThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever