It has almost become a ritual that whenever India have gone to Australia for a Test series, their backs are against the wall. It happened the last time despite having won in 2018/19 and this time more so with the Indian team suffering an unusual hammering at home at the hands of New Zealand. A whitewash no less. Add to that the absence of skipper Rohit Sharma, No 3 batter Shubman Gill and the pace ace Mohammed Shami, who has been out of action for a year now.
Now, take that all into context and picture that India are desperate for World Test Championship (WTC) points, facing Australia in Australia with a new-ish pace attack apart from Jasprit Bumrah, the stand-in captain for the opening Test match in Perth. Since it is Australia, there were bound to be changes in the squad, especially in the pace department with India calling up a couple of potential debutants in Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy. However, these are not the only changes in the squad from the New Zealand series. Take a look-
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Abhimanyu Easwaran was probably the most deserved call-up out of the lot. Yes, his returns for India A weren’t great but he sure deserves to be in the Test squad as the backup opener for the mountain of runs he has amassed in Ranji Trophy and first-class cricket in the last two years or so. Rana and Nitish Reddy are obviously the Test rookies, literally thrown into the deep end with the challenge of succeeding in the format in one of the toughest places to play.
Pacer Prasidh Krishna was another inclusion into the Test side with the injury concerns past him. Being the tall lad he is, Krishna did well for India A in the couple of games and might be useful on surfaces like Perth and Gabba with bounce. Devdutt Padikkal, who was impressive in the two India A games was added to the squad after being asked to stay back. Although an official announcement is pending, he is also set to make a Test return for the first time since the England series at the start of the year.
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Axar Patel, who warmed the bench for all five Tests in the home season recently was left out with Washington Sundar making the spinning all-rounder position his own while Kuldeep Yadav, the other spinner in the squad was not considered after undergoing surgery for his chronic groin issue.
India’s squad for Australia Test 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, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, (Devdutt Padikkal)
