Virat Kohli wasn't part of the Gabba Test in 2021. Photo: AP
India and Australia are locking horns in the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Gabba. Three years back, India pulled off a heist and defeated Australia at the same venue to register their second Test series win Down Under. This time, the series is levelled 1-1 and it's an important game for both teams.
Australia, who scored 445 in the first innings, hold the upper hand as India were reeling at 51/4 at the end of the third day. There's still plenty of action left and the rain can play a big role in deciding the result of the game. As the fans wait for the much-awaited last two days of the fixture, here we have a look at the complete changes in India's playing XI from the 2021 Gabba Test match -
In
Virat Kohli coming back is the biggest change in the playing XI. Virat returned home from the 2020/21 Test series after the opening game. Jasprit Bumrah is also back in the final XI. He missed the Gabba Test due to an injury.
India have a new opening pair in Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul while Ravindra Jadeja too wasn't part of the previous Gabba Test. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Akash Deep are other players who are playing their first Test in Gabba.
Out
Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara are the two biggest omissions from the squad. Both senior players were dropped in 2023 and they have been out of the squad since then. Rahane captained India to a series win in 2020/21.
Mayank Agarwal and Shardul Thakur aren't part of the Test team now while Washington Sundar, who made his Test debut in Gabba, is on the bench. Navdeep Saini and T Natarajan haven't played a Test match since January 2021.
Players retained
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant are the only three players who were part of India's famous Gabba win in 2021 and are also playing the ongoing game. Rohit is the present Test captain of Team India.
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