The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the 17-member-strong Indian squad for the Border-Gavaskar series between India and Australia. The four-match series will be played between February 9 to March 13 in India as both India and Australia will be playing their last Test series before the ultimate World Test Championship.
Following India's Test squad announcement against Australia, BCCI also confirmed the end of the traditional four-match Test series as part of Border-Gavaskar series as the world will see a new-look set up of the prestigious contest. From the next outing the Border-Gavaskar series, which has been a four-match contest so far, will be a five-match outing from the next season.
"This will also be the last edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy which will be a 4-match Test series feature," read the statement from BCCI.
The elusive trophy has been a four-Test series since 2003/04 when India had toured Australia, with 2010/11 contest being the only exception as it was a two-Test outing. The last time five Tests were played in a series was back in 1991/92.
Earlier in August last year, ICC had released the Men’s FTP cycle for 2023-27 which includes two sets of five-match series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the upcoming cycles of the ICC World Test Championship. According to the FTP, the Aussies will host India for the first five-match Border-Gavaskar series in the 2023-25 cycle of the WTC while a reciprocal tour is set to be played in the 2025-27 cycle.
Meanwhile, talking about India's chances for WTC final, they need to win three out of four Tests against Australia to solidify their place in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final. They are currently placed second on the WTC table with a win percentage of 68.93 with eight wins from 14 Tests. Australia are on top with 75.56 win percentage as they have 10 wins from 15 Tests and just one loss.
Talking about the series, India have called up Ishan Kishan as Rishabh Pant's replacement with KS Bharat likely to be first-choice wicketkeeper while Suryakumar Yadav has been added to the squad as well. Jasprit Bumrah will remain absent leaving Jaydev Unadkat with yet another opportunity. Meanwhile, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja’s inclusion in the team is "subject to fitness".
India's squad for first two Test against Australia:
Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, C Pujara, V Kohli, S Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.
Australia's squad
Australia Test squad for India tour: Pat Cummins (capt), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.
The Schedule
India vs Australia, 1st Test- February 9- February 13 at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur
India vs Australia, 2nd Test- February 17-February 21 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
India vs Australia, 3rd Test- March 01 - March 05 at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala
India vs Australia, 4th Test- March 9- March 13 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
