Rishabh Pant facing exclusion from India XI as Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir consider stern action; Akash Deep ruled out of Sydney Test

India is likely to make a couple of adjustments to their playing XI ahead of their match at the Sydney Cricket Ground in a bid to turn around the series and hold on to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Reports suggest that one of the changes may be due to an injury, while the other could see a experienced player being left out of the side.

India have come up with surprising selections throughout the series against Australia. They picked Washington Sundar as the lone spinner in Perth, before he was dropped to make way for Ravichandran Ashwin, followed by Ravindra Jadeja in Brisbane. Fast bowler Harshit Rana made his debut in Perth, but following his struggle in the Adelaide Pink Ball Test, he was benched. Later in the Melbourne game, India picked three all-rounders - Nitish Reddy, Jadeja and Sundar, while Shubman Gill was dropped as under-fire Rohit Sharma decided to open in place of KL Rahul, who was pushed down to the No. 3 spot.

With the series on the line, despite WTC hopes being all but over, a report in The Indian Express revealed that head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit are currently deliberating Rishabh Pant's position in the XI. His dismissals at the MCG drew enough criticism, which included Sunil Gavaskar's viral "Stupid, stupid, stupid" rant on commentary.

Despite a worrying batting show from India in the home Test series against Bangladesh and New Zealand, Pant was predicted to be the game-changer in the tour of Australia, especially given his heroics in the 2020/21 series Down Under. However, the wicketkeeper-batter managed just 154 runs in seven innings in the ongoing series at just 22, with no fifty-plus scores.

If India bench Pant, Dhruv Jurel, who played just one match in the series, scoring 11 and 1 in Perth, will be tested in Sydney.

Who will replace Akash Deep?

The report further added that fast bowler Akash Deep picked up a back injury and hence could miss the fifth Test. Keeping Jasprit Bumrah's workload in mind, India are likely to play four seamers at the SCG. Hence, while Rana could likely replace Akash, one between Sundar or Jadeja could be rested to make way for Prasidh Krishna.

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