Hyderabad: Rising sensations Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy have earned their maiden call-up in the 18-member Indian team for the highly anticipated five-Test series against Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, starting from November 22, 2024, in Perth.
India, who haven't lost a Test series to Australia in the last decade at both, home and away games, will look to defend the illusive trophy. However, pacer Mohammed Shami, who has not played a competitive cricket since the conclusion of the 2023 ODI World Cup held in India, failed to make it into the squad while chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav has been advised long-term rehabilitation for his groin injury.
Axar Patel is another notable player to miss out on representing India down under while off-spinner Washington Sundar, who claimed 11 wickets so far in the ongoing Test in Pune, secured his place, courtesy to his previous performance in Gabba where he played a crucial 50+ run knock down the order.
Abhimanyu Easwaran, who has been constantly knocking the selection panel's door with his sheer consistency, has finally made into the squad as reserve opener. He made his mark with four back-to-back hundreds in Duleep, Irani and Ranji Trophy matches. The cover is because of the possibility of Rohit skipping one of the earlier Test matches due to personal reasons.
KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan make up for the middle-order with Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel being the two wicket-keepers. Prasidh Krishna, the lanky pacer who made his debut in South Africa last year, is back in the squad after a long injury lay-off.
However, the story of this Indian team selection is Harshit, who is only nine First-Class matches old and has taken 36 wickets. But with a stellar IPL season under Gautam Gambhir at KKR, Rana has come quickly into the national reckoning and has been part of the squads in all formats, although he is yet to make his debut. He bowls consistently in the 140-click range and has a good short ball apart from being able to nail his yorkers perfectly.