Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced an 18-member India squad for the five-match Test series against Australia on Friday with Abhimanyu Easwaran, Harshit Rana and Nitish Rana included. The series begins in Perth on November 22.
Arguably, the biggest talking point in the squad is the absence of Mohammed Shami, who had been working against the clock to get ready for the series. The match-changing seamer underwent ankle surgery earlier in the year and his rehabilitation process had appeared to be on track until a recent swelling to his knee.
Kuldeep Yadav is also not in the squad to figure out a long-term solution for his chronic left groin issue. BCCI said in a statement, “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.”
Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini and Khaleel Ahmed have been named as the reserves.
Bengal’s Easwaran has been rewarded for his success in domestic cricket as he becomes the third-choice opener alongside skipper Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
India will also travel with a well-stocked pace attack alongside the leading pair of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. Akash Deep has maintained his spot following impressive performances against England and Bangladesh, while Prasidh Krishna returns to the Test squad after debuting in South Africa.
The Karnataka seamer underwent lengthy rehabilitation for a stress fracture. He was impressive in India A’s Duleep Trophy title win last month.
Seamer Harshit Rana gets to cap off an excellent year where he starred in an IPL title and now gets a Test call-up, after already being picked in the other two white-ball squads.
Andhra Pradesh’s medium-pace all-rounder Nitish Reddy is in the same boat as Rana, having impressed in the T20 league and stepping up to India level with his T20I bow in the Bangladesh series this month.
Among the spin-bowling options, Washington Sundar, who took seven wickets in the first innings against New Zealand in the on-going second Test in Pune, has also been picked. But Axar Patel has been left out.
India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy: 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, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed.