"No Point In Playing...": Sourav Ganguly's Straight Advice To Gautam Gambhir On India XI vs Australia

Shubman Gill's thumb fracture is certainly a "jolt" for India ahead of the series opener against Australia but former captain Sourav Ganguly firmly believes the team has the quality and mental fortitude to overcome the recent shock loss at home in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy starting in Perth from Friday. Gill, who has five hundreds in 29 Tests, had scored a fifty in Melbourne and a game-setting 91 at Brisbane in the two victories on the previous tour. He suffered a left thumb fracture while fielding in the intra-squad simulation between senior team and India A, ruling him out of the first Test.

"Shubman's injury is jolt for the team no doubt as he is an in-form batter and has scored in Australia. A thumb fracture could rule him out for two Tests.

"But I believe the other batters would step up in absence of Rohit (on paternity leave) and Shubman during the first Test. I don't think New Zealand defeat would have any bearing on this series," the former BCCI president told PTI in an interview ahead of the marquee series.

With Hardik Pandya not playing Test cricket anymore, India don't have too many genuine pace bowling all-rounders and while Nitish Kumar Reddy is still very raw, one of India's finest captains feels that the Andhra cricketer needs to be given chances in specific conditions.

"Look, there is absolutely no point in playing two specialist spinners either at Perth (Optus) or at the Gabba (Brisbane). You obviously need to find a way to play Reddy in these conditions. He is a good batsman and coming in at lower middle order, it will lend proper balance to the side," he gave his rationale for inclusion of a multi-skilled player.

Ganguly also felt that Mohammed Shami should have travelled to Adelaide and played the