Australia Test series: India squad announced for 2 matches

Mumbai, Feb 14: The 16-man Indian Test squad for the home series against Australia, was announced here today (February 14).

Ind-Aus series schedule; Kohli breaks Azhar record

The Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) selection committee, led by MSK Prasad, picked the squad for the opening 2 Tests (Pune, Bengaluru) of the 4-match rubber for Border-Gavaskar Trophy. (Our minds, hearts on Australia series: Kohli)

The same 16-man squad from Bangaldesh one-off Test has been retained. They beat the visitors by 208 runs in Hyderabad yesterday (February 13). The first Test starts in Pune on February 23. The second game is in Bengaluru from March 4.

India are on a roll, having been unbeaten in 19 Tests so far, all under Virat Kohli's leadership. They have won a record 6 successive Test series (against Sri Lanka, West Indies (both away), South Africa, New Zealand, England, Bangladesh - all at home).

This is the last Test series of the current home season for India where they have won 8 of the 9 matches (1 draw against England in Rajkot).

Indian team for the first two Test matches of the four-match @Paytm Test series against Australia announced #INDvAUS

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 14, 2017

On their previous tour of India in 2013, Australia were handed a 4-0 whitewash.

In the last series between the sides, Australia, the hosts, won 2-0 in the 4-Test rubber in 2014-15.

That was the series when Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced his retirement, on December 30, 2014, from Test cricket after the 3rd match in Melbourne.

Team: Virat (Capt), Vijay, Rahul, Pujara, Rahane, Saha (wk), Ashwin, Jadeja, Ishant, Bhuvi, Umesh, Karun, Jayant, Kuldeep, Mukund & Pandya

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 14, 2017

Australia have not won a Test series in India since 2004. During that tour, they claimed the 4-match rubber 2-1, after 35 years, under Adam Gilchrist (Led in 1st 3 Tests) and Ricky Ponting's captaincy.

The Steve Smith-led squad arrived in India on Monday (February 13). They will play the Haridk Pandya captained India A in a 3-day warm-up match at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium from February 16.

India Test squad

1. Virat Kohli (captain), 2. Murali Vijay, 3. KL. Rahul, 4. Cheteshwar Pujara, 5. Ajinkya Rahane, 6. Karun Nair, 7. Wriddihiman Saha (wicketkeeper), 8. Ravichandran Ashwin, 9. Ravindra Jadeja, 10. Jayant Yadav, 11. Umesh Yadav, 12. Ishant Sharma, 13. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 14. Kuldeep Yadav, 15. Abhinav Mukund, 16. Hardik Pandya.

Australia Test squad

1. Steve Smith (captain), 2. David Warner, 3. Ashton Agar, 4. Jackson Bird, 5. Peter Handscomb, 6. Josh Hazlewood, 7. Usman Khawaja, 8. Nathan Lyon, 9. Mitchell Marsh, 10. Shaun Marsh, 11. Glenn Maxwell, 12. Steve O'Keefe, 13. Matthew Renshaw, 14. Mitchell Starc, 15. Mitchell Swepson, 16. Matthew Wade (wicketkeeper).

OneIndia News