Probably the second most popular Test series after the Ashes, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia, is set to start on November 22 in Perth. India have announced their squad for the five-match red-ball series. Three uncapped players namely Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Abhimanyu Easwaran have been added to the squad. Harshit and Nitish are both part of India’s traveling reserves for the ongoing New Zealand Test series, while the opener Abhimanyu becomes a part of the squad after a brilliant domestic season.
Abhimanyu, who was in India’s squad for the Bangladesh tour in 2022, is likely to make a debut during the tour. He scored two centuries in the latest edition of the Duleep Trophy and one century each in the Irani Trophy as well as in the one match he played in the Ranji Trophy before joining the New Zealand squad.
Harshit Rana ended the recent IPL season as the fourth-highest wicket-getter. Playing for India D in the Duleep Trophy last month, he picked two four-wicket hauls in two matches, giving almost 19 runs for each wicket.
Mohammad Shami, despite racing against time to recover from his ankle surgery, has missed out on the squad after failing to be completely fit. Besides him, the legspinner, Kuldeep Yadav, has also been left out due to a groin issue.
A young fast bowling attack will be headed by Jasprit Bumrah, who will also be Rohit Sharma’s second-in-command. Mohammad Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, and Harshit Rana will complement Bumrah on the bouncy Australia pitches. Besides these pacers, Nitish Kumar Reddy will perform the pace all-rounder duties.
The spin department will be overseen by Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. To no one’s surprise, Washington Sundar, who just took a ten-wicket haul against New Zealand after his surprise inclusion to the playing XI, has also made the cut.
From the looks of it, the batting order will likely remain unchanged barring Rohit Sharma’s exclusion from one of the first couple of matches due to personal reasons. Abhimanyu Easwaran might get his cap to fill in for Rohit as an opener. KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan have both been added to the squad, and India might juggle between both batters as per the conditions.
The five-match Test series, which will run until the first week of January next year, will be significant in deciding which team gets the go-ahead for the World Test Championship final. India have been to all the WTC finals so far. However, despite maintaining the top position for most of the current cycle, their current timid show in front of New Zealand at home points out that their absence this time might not be as impossible. The men in blue will be the title defenders of the BGT this year as well. The team has won the previous four editions of the trophy, regardless of the venue.
India squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy:
Rohit Sharma (capt), 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, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar
Traveling reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed
