Indian selectors name Test squad for Australian tour, excludes Shami

Indian selectors named three uncapped players- opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, fast bowler Harshit Rana and allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, in their 18-member squad for the upcoming Test series against Australia, beginning November 22.

Fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who underwent ankle surgery earlier this year, missed the ticket to Australia after failing to recover completely.

Spinner Kuldeep Yadav was also not added to the team since 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’.

Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini and Khaleel Ahmed have been named as travelling reserves.

Rohit Sharma, who is likely to miss one of the first two Tests, was named the captain for the series while Jasprit Bumrah will be his deputy.

R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar were added to the Test squad.

Sundar returned to the Test fold after nearly three years with the ongoing Test series against New Zealand.

India are the current holders of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy: 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.

Meanwhile, selectors also announced the team for the T20International series in South Africa.

India’s T20I squad is set to play a 4-match T20I series against South Africa and will play their first T20I in Durban on 8th November.

Surya Kumar Yadav will be action to lead his country in the four-match series.

India’s squad for 4 T20Is against South Africa: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal.