Bengal’s Abhimanyu Easwaran has been rewarded for his consistent performance in the domestic circuit with a call-up to the senior India squad for the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.
The first Test begins in Perth on November 22. The rest of the matches will be played in Adelaide (D-N), Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
The squad includes six fast bowlers, including the uncapped Harshit Rana. Another uncapped player, batting all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy who bowls right-arm medium-fast, too is a surprise choice.
As reported by The Telegraph, Mohammed Shami finds no place in the initial squad announced late on Friday. An hour before the squad was announced, Shami had posted a video of him bowling in the nets on social media.
Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna are the other fast bowlers in the squad besides vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah.
Prasidh, who has played two Tests in South Africa, has just started bowling again after recovering from a serious back injury. Rana, 22, has played only nine first-class matches and head coach Gautam Gambhir got to work with him closely during
KKR’s successful IPL campaign last season.
Kuldeep Yadav too was also not available for selection because of a “chronic left groin issue”, the BCCI said in a media release. He will visit the BCCI Centre of Excellence after the end of the ongoing Test series against New Zealand for “long-term resolution” of his injury.
In the event of captain Rohit Sharma missing a Test or two during the tour because of “personal issues”, opener Easwaran is tipped to earn his maiden Test cap.
The 18-member squad also includes three spin all-rounders — Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, who marked his return to the Test team after more than three years with a ten-wicket haul in the ongoing Test in Pune.
Ramandeep in
Middle-order batter Ramandeep Singh and fast bowler Vijaykumar Vyshak have earned their maiden India call-ups for the four-match T20I series in South Africa, which begins in Durban on November 8.
Riyan Parag missed out as he is undergoing rehabilitation for a “chronic right shoulder injury”, while fast bowler Mayank Yadav and all-rounder Shivam Dube were also unavailable because of injuries.
Mayank had been laid low by a side strain since IPL 2024. He recently played three T20Is versus Bangladesh but has since been nursing an issue with his abdominal muscle at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. Dube has been struggling with a back issue.
Harshit, Washington and Nitish, who were part of the squad for the Bangladesh T20Is, haven’t been included as they will be travelling to Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
