Team India vice-captain KL Rahul has said that there’s a temptation to play three spinners in the first Test in Nagpur against Australia but the team management has yet to finalise the playing XI as well. However, the hosts has four frontline spinners- Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Axar Patel. Kuldeep did well in the most recent Test against Bangladesh, while Axar Patel has been a standout performer in the red ball format, and R Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja have been India’s first-choice spinners for quite some time as well.

“There will be a temptation to play three spinners because of the turning tracks in India but we would know the pitch on the day of the game,” Rahul said during a media interaction in Nagpur on Tuesday. “If situation demands us to play free shots we will go for it otherwise we stick to the regular Test cricket batting template. It is basically trying to work out a plan between the batters in the middle,” KL Rahul again said.

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“It is a must-win series,” KL Rahul also admitted on Tuesday. “When it’s India-Australia, it always is. Each team wants to win, it’s a big series. I don’t think it’s any different to any other Border-Gavaskar Trophy we play. Yes, there is a World Test Championship (final) there that we all want to play, we all look to play in it. But we also have to take into fact that we have to take one game at a time and remain in the present. We’ll try to win the first game here in Nagpur and take it from there.”

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“Any fast bowler who can exploit reverse swing can be quite dangerous on these pitches. That’s something we also try to prepare for and tried practise for the last 8 to 10 days. We all know Australia have always produced high-quality fast bowlers. We know the threat they always bring in to the series with the new and the old ball. That’s the beauty of playing against top teams,” KL Rahul concluded.