Seasoned pacer Mohammed Shami was left out while the senior men's national selection committee named an extremely strong side for a five-Test Border Gavaskar Trophy to be played in Australia between November 22 and February 19. The choice has been given to IPL hero Nitish Kumar Reddy and bowler Harshit Rana for the red-ball version.
Shami, who was not playing since last year's 50-over World Cup final after an injury leading to surgery, has gone on record recently with an assertion that though he started bowling he wanted to play some domestic games only before joining the national outfit.
But there has been a notional gain-the return of Shami meant a lot to pace options-with youngster Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana likely to be thrust alongside Bumrah, Siraj, and Deep Akash in the attack. In fact, as that takes shape, the very much home series against Australia following shortly after this current encounter will be a keen one too.
As the recovery has been delayed, selectors have chosen not to take any chances and left him out of the squad for Australia instead of hurrying him into action. Pacers Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, and Khaleel Ahmed will be travelling reserves for the five-match series.
Another addition is that Kuldeep Yadav has been ruled out due to unavailability, as he has a chronic left groin problem. Ashwin, Jadeja, and Washington Sundar are front-line spinners in the side. There is every likelihood of Washington getting his maiden call-up soon as seven-for in the first innings of the New Zealand's innings in Pune Test must have tipped the balance the other way around. But Axar Patel, that left-arm spinning allrounder, has also not figured in the plans of selectors.
"Kuldeep Yadav is ruled out for selection for the tour of Australia as he has been sent to The BCCI Centre of Excellence post completion of the ongoing Test series against New Zealand for a long term rectification of his chronic left groin injury," BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a statement on Friday night.
Rohit Sharma will continue to lead the side, while Jasprit Bumrah, who has been appointed vice-captain for the Test series against New Zealand, will continue to be his deputy.
India will play a 5-match Test series in Australia as part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy from 22nd November in Perth after the completion of the 3-match Test series against New Zealand.
The selectors have continued with the top three of Rohit, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shubman Gill and added Bengal opener Abhimanyu Easwaran and Nitish Kumar Reddy. Virat Kohli, K.L Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Sarfaraz Khan will still vie for the middle order slots. The selectors had stuck by Rahul even after he was left out for the second Test against New Zealand in Pune.
India will play Tests in Perth on November 22-26, 2024; Adelaide on Dec 6-10, Brisbane on Dec 14-18, Melbourne on Dec 26-30 and Sydney from Jan 3-7, 2025.
India would be looking to make a hat-trick of victories in the Border Gavaskar Trophy series also, having won the last two series played at home, each time with an identical margin of 2-1.
India's Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad:
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 Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves:
Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed.
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