Kuldeep & Axar Out, 4 Players In: Changes In Indian Test Team For Border-Gavaskar Trophy – News18

Last Updated:October 26, 2024, 06:42 IST

The Indian men’s cricket team will travel to Australia next month to take part in a five-match Test series that starts on November 22 in Perth.

The BCCI announced India’s 18-member squad for the upcoming five-match Test series against Australia on Friday (October 25). The Indian men’s cricket team is scheduled to travel Australia next month to take part in the 2024-25 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which starts on November 22 in Perth. Rohit Sharma will lead the World Test Championship (WTC) 2024-25 leaders in the series Down Under and will have star pacer Jasprit Bumrah as his deputy.

India has won the last two Test series played in Australia and will be eager to complete the hat-trick this time around. However, it won’t be an easy task for the Indian team, as Aussies are a force to reckon with in their home conditions.

India is currently engaged in a three-match Test series against New Zealand, and in the squad picked for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India selectors have left out two key players from the ongoing series and added four players to the team, which includes three uncapped cricketers.

Here’s a look at the complete list of changes in Team India for the five-match Test series against Australia from the ongoing one against New Zealand:

OUT: Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, who are part of India’s Test squad for the ongoing series against New Zealand, will not travel with the Indian team for the five-match series against Australia. According to the BCCI release, Kuldeep was unavailable for selection because he has been referred to the BCCI Centre of Excellence after the end of the ongoing series for a long-term resolution of his chronic left groin issue. But no explanation was given for Axar, which means he was dropped from the side. The star all-rounder will however travel to South Africa for the four-match T20I series, which starts on November 8 in Durban.

IN: Karnataka pacer Prasidh Krishna, who made his Test debut during the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in Centurion last year, is back in the Test team for the Australia tour. In addition to him, Bengal top-order batter Abhimanyu Easwaran, KKR pacer Harshit Rana, and SRH all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy are also part of the Test squad. While it is a maiden Test call-up for Rana and Reddy, Easwaran has travelled with the Indian team in the past as well but is yet to make a red-ball debut for the Men in Blue.

Retained: As many as 14 players who are currently part of the New Zealand series have managed to retain their place in the Test team for the much-awaited series against Australia.

Travelling reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, and Khaleel Ahmed are picked as three reserve players by the Indian selectors for the upcoming Test tour of Australia, where apart from five matches, India will also play two warm-up games.

Notable absentees: Star pacer Mohammed Shami, who has been out of action since the ODI World Cup 2023 final, was not picked in the 18-member squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy along with Cheteshwar Pujara, Shardul Thakur, and Shreyas Iyer. Pujara played a big role in India’s last two Test series wins in Australia, and he also scored 234 runs in his last Ranji Trophy match to present a case for selection in the team, whereas Shardul has proved his worth as a fast bowling all-rounder in the overseas Tests played in recent years.

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, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.

Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed