India squad for Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Shami misses out as Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna find place

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The BCCI on Friday (October 25) announced the India squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 which will consist of five Test matches against Australia starting November 22 in Perth.

All the players part of the India squad for the ongoing Test series against New Zealand except for Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav retained their places. All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy and pacer Harshit Rana received their maiden Test call up, Karnataka fast bowler Prasidh Krishna was also called back.

Kuldeep Yadav was unavailable for selection as he would be heading 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.

Mohammed Shami, who was expected to recover from his injury on time for the crucial Test tour, has been left out of the 18-member squad which consists of a total of six pace options including Andhra player Reddy. The attack will be spearheaded by Jasprit Bumrah, who has once again been named the vice-captain of the Indian Test team.

Abhimanyu Easwaran has pipped Ruturaj Gaikwad to find a place as a backup opener. Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel will be the two wicketkeeper-batters for the long-tour which will decide if India qualifies for the WTC final for the third consecutive time.

Underfire KL Rahul has also retained his place, and so has Sarfaraz Khan, who slammed 150 in the second innings of the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru.

Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar are the three spinners for the tour. Sundar was added to India's Test squad ahead of the ongoing second Test against New Zealand. He was inducted straight into the playing eleven ahead of Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar Patel. The off-spinner ended up picking seven wickets in the first innings, and four of the five wickets in the ongoing second innings.

Considering the long nature of the tour, India have also named three travelling reserves. Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini and Khaleel Ahmed would travel with the jumbo Indian contingent to Australia.

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.

Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed