Who is in & who is out? Here's complete breakdown of changes in India’s Test squad for Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Team India's 18-member squad for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-2025 has been announced. Rohit Sharma will continue as the captain, with Jasprit Bumrah serving as his deputy. India will aim to defend their title and extend their dominance in Australian conditions.

Several changes have been made to the squad. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana have been included for the first time, while Abhimanyu Easwaran has been selected as the third opening option. On the other hand, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami have been dropped from the squad due to injuries.

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Notable Exclusions

Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav are the two players from the current Test squad who will not be traveling to Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Axar Patel has been dropped and replaced by Washington Sundar, who earned his selection with a strong performance in the recent Pune Test.

Kuldeep Yadav, who was part of the victorious Indian team in the 2018/19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, is currently unavailable due to a chronic left groin issue and has been referred to the BCCI Centre of Excellence for treatment.

Notable Inclusions

Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Abhimanyu Easwaran have received their maiden Test call-ups. Prasidh Krishna has also been included in the squad. Harshit Rana has been preferred over Yash Dayal, who has been selected for the T20I team.

Nitish Kumar Reddy's inclusion is due to India's need for a pace-bowling all-rounder. Abhimanyu Easwaran has outperformed Ruturaj Gaikwad and will be part of the India A team before joining the Test squad.

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Prasidh Krishna, who has been sidelined for a significant period, has made his return to the Indian Test squad. He will aim to maintain his fitness throughout the challenging Australian series, which begins on November 22 in Perth. In addition to Shami's absence, left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav has also been excluded from the squad. The BCCI has cited a chronic left groin injury as the reason for Kuldeep's unavailability.

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