India have named an 18-member squad for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. It includes a couple of uncapped players like pacer Harshit Rana and seam-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy along with Abhimanyu Easwaran. However, Mohammed Shami has missed the cut and has not been named in the squad.
Shami has been out of action since the end of the 2023 World Cup. He underwent an ankle surgery and has been striving hard to regain full fitness. There was a lot of chatter around him playing a couple of Ranji Trophy matches before boarding the flight to Australia but he doesn’t seem to be fully fit.
However, India have stocked up their pace battery. The experienced Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj will lead the attack along with Akash Deep who has fared well at home in the limited chances he’s got. Prasidh Krishna who made his Test debut in South Africa last year makes a comeback as well. He suffered a stress fracture earlier this year and went through a long rehabilitation. But he bowled well in the Duleep Trophy recently. As did Harshit Rana who has earned a maiden Test call-up. He has 36 wickets in nine first-class games so far. Nitish Kumar Reddy is the sole pace-bowling all-rounder in the side.
A couple of other notable exclusions are Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel. The BCCI revealed that the left-arm leg-spinner was not considered for selection as he has been referred to the Centre of Excellence to sort out his long-standing chronic left groin issue. Meanwhile, Washington Sundar who had a fabulous Test comeback against New Zealand has been picked ahead of Axar Patel. Sundar featured in one Test match during India’s last visit. He played at The Gabba where he took four wickets and made 84 runs across two innings.
Batting line-up on expected lines
The batting line-up is on expected lines. Abhimanyu Easwaran finally earned a Test call-up after scoring tons of runs in domestic cricket. He racked up four centuries in his last four first-class encounters. He averages 49.92 in domestic cricket with 29 tons and he has been very consistent for India ‘A’ as well. Hence, Easwaran will be the backup opener.
India have also named three travelling reserves. Pacers Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini and Khaleel Ahmed will accompany the team on the flight to Australia.
The first Test starts on the 22nd of November in Perth before Adelaide hosts the pink-ball Test from the 6th of December. The third Test will be played in Brisbane, starting on the 14th of December before the tour concludes with the Boxing Day and New Year’s Test in Melbourne and Sydney respectively.
India will be looking to make it three in a row on Australian soil, having won the last two rubbers 2-1 (in 2018-19 and 2020-21). In fact, they have won the last four Test series against Australia.
INDIA SQUAD: Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dhruv Jurel (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana.
Travelling Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed.