BCCI announce squad for Border-Gavaskar Trophy; Rohit Sharma to lead

BCCI announced the India squad for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy and most of the team remained somewhat similar to what was expected, in addition to a couple of new faces coming in.

Rohit Sharma was named as the captain for the entirety of the five-match Test series Down Under while Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana earned their maiden Test call-ups.

As a back-up opener to the duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma, Abhimanyu Easwaran edged past Ruturaj Gaikwad. Easwaran’s blistering centuries in the last four games spanned across the Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy got him the all-important selection in what is going to be a very important series for India.

Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav were not announced as a part of the squad. There was no update available about Shami’s fitness while Kuldeep Yadav, who was rested in the second Test, was not a part of the Indian squad as BCCI cited injury.

In a statement released by BCCI, it stated, “Kuldeep Yadav was unavailable for selection for the tour of Australia 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.”

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