Feel Jayant and Ishant should be replaced in next Test: Azhar

Former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin feels that Indian team will be forced to make a couple of changes in their playing XI for the second Test against Australia after the hammering it took in the opening match.

"Any batting debacle leaves a team on the backfoot. I am not saying series is lost but one needs to look at the kind of track that you want to play. I reckon Chinnaswamy won't have this kind of turn. So my gut feeling is that Jayant Yadav and Ishant Sharma may be dropped from the playing XI," Azharuddin said in an interview.

India lost the match by a whopping 333 runs and the second Test will be played in Bengaluru, from March 4.

Asked to explain his observation, Azhar said: "Going by their batting performance, I expect them to play an extra batsman – that is Karun Nair. He should be replacing Jayant in all likelihood.

"Also on the tracks that we are playing, Ishant's back of the length stuff is not going to work. It is better that a swing bowler like Bhuvneshwar is brought into the team by Virat." For someone who has played 99 Tests and captained India for close to a decade, Azharuddin was critical of the performance by the Indian spinners on a rank turner.

"I think a similar pitch was prepared when Michael Clarke got his 6 for 9 in Mumbai. This was a bad pitch to bat on. But I am not at all happy with how the spinners bowled on a track like this – especially Ravindra Jadeja," said Azhar.