Abhimanyu Easwaran, Nitish Reddy in India’s jumbo squad for Australia Tests

The wait is over as India has announced a jumbo 18-member squad for the Border Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia.

Rohit Sharma is set to marshall his troops as the squad is a mix of both experience and the exuberance of youth. Abhimanyu Easwaran received a much-deserved spot in the team after plundering runs in the domestic circuit. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana received their maiden Test call-up and will be travelling to Australia for the high-profile Test series.

Meanwhile, India’s Kuldeep Yadav was unavailable for selection for the tour of Australia due to his chronic left groin issue. The ace spinner 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 the issue. India’s spin-bowling all-rounder Axar Patel was not included in the squad.

Mohammad Shami was a big miss from India’s squad, which means the star pacer continues to recover from the surgery. Jaspirt Bumrah, who is deputy to captain Rohit, will be spearheading India’s pace attack, which features Mohammad Siraj, Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna, who also made a return to the Test squad. The spin department consisted of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, with Axar Patel missing out.

Abhimanyu Easwaran returns
Abhimanyu Easwaran finally received his due after compiling four hundreds in seven innings this domestic season. He has been part of India’s Test squad previously – in Bangladesh in 2022. Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar Reddy will boast as India’s only fast-bowling option and will be aiming to emulate his dream T20I start in red ball cricket as well. Harshit Rana impressed in his outings in the ongoing domestic season and the three players have already jetted off to Australia as part of India A team.

India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar series

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 Kumar

India is set to face Australia for a 5-match Test series, starting November 22 in Perth. India will be flying to Australia with the hope of retaining the ultimate Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which has been with them since 2017.