Ishan Kishan to make debut, Mohammed Siraj may sit out: Here's India's likely XI for 4th Test vs Australia in Ahmedabad

In a highly-followed cricket-crazy nation like India, a loss in a home Test match in conditions heavily stacked in favour of spinners can throw open boxes of questions. The Indore defeat to Australia in less than two and a half days did exactly that. India's flailing top-order with captain Rohit Sharma being the exception appears to have run out of validity of lower-order support. With a prolonged lean patch, opener KL Rahul was the obvious target in the third Test. He was replaced by Shubman Gill, who threatened in both innings of the last Test but failed to make anything substantial out of it. But the problem in India's Test batting unit goes deeper than just one player. There has been a collective failure from the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and KS Bharat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin masked the flaws in the first two Tests in Nagpur and Delhi resulting in Indian victories but the moment there was no lower-order rescue act in the third Test, India succumbed.

Ahead of the series-deciding fourth Test in Ahmedabad starting Thursday, the focus, therefore, is firmly on the Indian batting unit and of course the pitch.

Pujara, with a 59 against all odds in the second innings in the previous Test, reassured his quality and importance in the Indian side. Kohli, the class that he is, never looked unsettled in the middle. Shreyas Iyer, India's success story in the last home season, has also done nothing alarmingly wrong to warrant a question over his place. Then what is the solution?

Head coach Rahul Dravid has asked to look at the performance of the Indian batters in perspective and not wish for a big double hundred on tracks which are "result-oriented" and in favour of the spinners. He even defended KS Bharat by talking about his 17-run knock in Indore and his unbeaten 22 in Delhi in the second innings.

"...even though it's not a big contribution, he got 17 in the first innings. Got a nice contribution in Delhi where he played positively, and you need a little bit of luck in these conditions and he hasn't probably had that, and he is shaping really well and keeping really nicely for us. So we need to put batting performance in perspective," Dravid said.

The fact there has been only one century and seven half-centuries in the series so far, does prompt one to see merit in Dravid's assertion. Batting has been the most difficult thing to do in this Border-Gavaskar Trophy. But talking about 15-20 runs knocks while defending an Indian player picked as much for his batting as keeping, does not augur well for a powerhouse like India.

Dravid's statement, however, was a bit different to the picture India's practice session on Tuesday portrayed. Bharat missed the session while Ishan Kishan, the reserve keeper in the Indian XI, had two separate net sessions. He also had a long chat with coach Dravid on multiple occasions.

Does that tell a story? Maybe yes, maybe not. But handing debut to Kishan Kishan certainly won't be a move that would give sleepless nights to the Indian fans even if it doesn't turn out well. The left-hander doesn't have the best of techniques to deal with spin - Australia has three quality spinners Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, and Matthew Kuhnemann - but he does know how to score in international cricket. He has a double hundred in ODIs and if he does go on to get a start, can leave a match-changing impact.

As far as India's bowling is concerned, there is a school of thought that believes playing one seamer would be sufficient. But going by Dravid's words, who spoke about the importance of those one or two wickets with the new ball provided by the pacers in the series, it looks unlikely that India will move away from their two seamers and three spinners combination.

Mohammed Shami's return to the mix, is, however, confirmed. Siraj, who will lead India's pace attack in the three ODIs, is likely to be given a break after playing three Tests on the trot.

India's Predicted XI for 4th Test vs Australia

Openers: Rohit Sharman, Shubman Gill

Top and middle order: Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer

Wicketkeeper: Ishan Kishan

All-rounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, R Ashwin

Pacers: Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav