As they took on Australia in the inaugural Test at Perth for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India had two debutants in the playing XI. Harshit Rana was named as the third pace bowler in the line-up while Nitish Reddy was made the all-rounder in the fast-bowling department.
Avenue of the young players in the squad as it was their First Test in Australia. Virat Kohli Rana’sCap was given to him by former Indian captain Virat Kohli and Reddy received his Cap from Ashwin.
Also, earlier in the day, the Indian captain Jasprit Bumrah called the toss and decided to bat first. The backroom staff surprised the fans when they did not select Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja and went on with Washington Sundar as the spin option.
Rohit Sharma the regular captain as well as the opening batsman is not taking part due to the birth of the second baby and in his place, the senior most member KL Rahul is playing. Shubman Gill was also injured on the thumb and ruled out which saw Devdutt Padikkal named at number three. Sarfaraz khan who plays the middle order was not chosen and dhruv jurel was selected instead.
“This looks to be a good wicket. We have played a Test in this place in 2018 so we know what we are going to face. The second session is usually on-the-wicket when it gets quicker than the first one. Very confident of the preparations we’ve had,” he stated.
Nathan McSweeney makes a debut in the Australian squad, as he opens the batting with Usman Khawaja in the absence of David Warner who has retired. With Cameron Green injured and out for the series, Mitchell Marsh takes the role of the allrounder.
The guests have emerged victorious in their last two Border-Gavaskar Trophy series on Australian soil, the last of which being a 2-1 win in the 2020-21 series. However, they started this series on the back of a disappointing 3-0 defeat to New Zealand at home.
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah (capt), Mohammed Siraj.
Australia: Nathan McSweeney, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.
