India spin ace Ravichandran Ashwin remains an injury concern for the Boxing Day Test, while fellow tweaker Ravindra Jadeja is also carrying a niggle. Left-arm off-spinning allrounder Jadeja would be the most obvious replacement but was also no certainty to play at the typically batsman-friendly MCG. India instead selected four quicks, a decision that was widely panned when Australia’s offspinner Nathan Lyon claimed man of the match honours. “When you look at Perth, we felt (Jadeja) was about 70-80 per cent fit and we didn’t want to risk that in Perth,” Shastri told reporters. “This pitch will be very similar to the South Australian game ... and the feedback we got from that game was really positive,” Page said.

Source: The Guardian December 23, 2018 02:29 UTC