India have named their squad for the Test series against Australia
Photo : AP
India have named their squad for the 2024-25 Border Gavaskar Trophy with Rohit Sharma set to lead the team in Australia and Jasprit Bumrah named as his deputy. There was no place for either Axar Patel or Kuldeep Yadav as the team named just three spinners and Washington Sundar got the nod after his impressive display in the ongoing clash against New Zealand Pune.
The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee revealed that Kuldeep was not available for selection due to a chronic groin issue and instead has been referred to visit the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) Centre of Excellence.
"Kuldeep Yadav was unavailable for selection for the tour of Australia since he has been referred to the BCCI Centre of Excellence after the end of the ongoing Test series against New Zealand for long term resolution of his chronic left groin issue," said the BCCI statement.
Mohammed Shami was not named in the squad after months of speculation over his fitness. The star Indian pacer has not played any competitive cricket since the 2023 Cricket World Cup final. He is set to make a comeback in the Ranji Trophy next month but will not be on the flight to Australia.
Abhimanyu Easwaran beat Ruturaj Gaikwad as will be the team's reserve opener amid speculation that Rohit could miss either of the first two Tests while no confirmation of the same has been provided by the BCCI.
India have included Harshit Rana in the squad, who is yet to play for the country in any format despite getting call-ups to both the ODI and T20I teams in the last few months. Prasidh Krishna has been recalled to the national team for the first time since the Test series against South Africa, where he made his debut in red-ball cricket.
Nitish Kumar Reddy is another player set for a Test debut in Australia with the 21-year-old being fast-tracked into the Test team as the team looks to find a seam bowling all-rounder in red-ball cricket.
India Squad For Australia Test Series: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Navedeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar
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