Morne Morkel on India's playing XI vs Sri Lanka 1st Test

India’s bowling coach, Morne Morkel, has hinted at the inclusion of three spinners in the playing eleven for the first Test of the two-match series against Sri Lanka, which is scheduled to begin on August 15 in Galle. On the spin-friendly surfaces, they have thoughts of keeping just two pacers.

In the one-off Test match against Afghanistan, Kuldeep Yadav went wicketless in the first innings and bagged three in the second, besides picking two wickets in the first innings of the three-day practice game against the Sri Lanka Cricket XI.

Morkel's exact words on India's bold three-spinner gamble ahead of the Galle Test

Morkel, in the pre-match press conference, reckoned that the blue brigade could think of going with the three spinners in the form of Manav Suthar, Ravindra Jadeja, and one of Kuldeep Yadav and Saransh Jain.

“Kuldeep is there, and he's the attacking sort of bowler, and for us, his experience and class can't be looked past. So yeah, I think for us they're all different in their way. So, one (Suthar) turns a bit more, one (Jadeja) is slightly more accurate, and I don't think it's a (three left-arm spinners) massive concern for us.” Morkel revealed in the presser.

“It’s just how Gill is going to use those guys at certain times. But yeah, I mean in terms of skill they've got the skill to get the 20 wickets for us.” He added.

Mohammad Siraj will be the premier pacer of the side, while the toss-up will be between Gurnoor Brar and Prasidh Krishna.

Jadeja, Kuldeep, Suthar — Could India really field three left-arm spinners together vs Sri Lanka?

The Shubman Gill-led side is expected to go with KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal as the two openers, followed by Devdutt Padikkal at number three, who blasted a fine century in their warm-up clash in Colombo. After Gill at number four, Rishabh Pant and Jadeja are expected to be in the middle and lower order.

Another massive decision for India comes up between Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan at number seven. They are very unlikely to hand a debut to Auqib Nabi as the pacer.

India’s Probable Playing XI for 1st Test vs Sri Lanka-

Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill(c), Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfaraz Khan/Dhurv Jurel, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.