India have picked Abhimanyu Easwaran, Harshit Rana and Nitish Reddy among the 18-man squad for the highly-anticipated Border-Gavaskar Test series, with the first of the five games starting on November 22 in Perth. Kuldeep Yadav misses the cut as 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.
India 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
Bengal’s run-accumalator Easwaran has been rewarded for his consistent domestic form, and will travel as the third-choice opener with Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Easwaran comes in with a century each in his last four first-class outings – in Duleep Trophy, Ranji Trophy and the Irani Cup.
India have not picked Mohammed Shami who is on the road to recovery, but are still well-stocked in the pace department to complement the pair of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. Akash Deep has kept his spot following impressive performances at home against England and Bangladesh, while Prasidh Krishna returns to the Test squad after debuting in South Africa earlier this year. The Karnataka pacer underwent a lengthy rehabilitation for a stress fracture earlier and was impressive in India A’s Duleep Trophy title win last month.
Fast bowler Harshit Rana gets to cap off an excellent 2024 where he starred in an IPL title win, with a Test call-up after already being picked in the other two white-ball squads. Andhra’s medium-pace all-rounder Nitish Reddy is in a similar boat as Rana – following an impressive IPL stint with a T20I debut and now, a Test call-up. India are also taking the pace trio of Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed as reserves.
Washington Sundar, who is in the midst of an impactful return in whites after making his debut on India’s previous tour to Australia, has also been picked, while Axar Patel has been left out.
The tour schedule
| Tests | Venue | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Perth Stadium, Perth | November 22-26 |
| 2nd (D/N) | Adelaide Oval | December 6-10 |
| 3rd | The Gabba, Brisbane | December 14-18 |
| 4th | MCG, Melbourne | December 26-30 |
| 5th | SCG, Sydney | January 3-7 |
