IND v AUS 2023: Washington Sundar among four spinners added to India’s squad as net bowlers

The inclusion of four net spinners indicates that spin-friendly tracks will be dished out in the Test series.

Four spinners, including white-ball specialist Washington Sundar, have been added to the Indian squad as net bowlers ahead of the four-Test series against Australia, Cricbuzz reported on Friday (February 3).

The other three names include Saurabh Kumar, the left-arm spinner from Uttar Pradesh, wrist-spinner Rahul Chahar, left-arm spinner from Tamil Nadu R Sai Kishore.

Sundar is an integral part of the Indian white-ball setup as a bowling all-rounder. He made his Test debut against Australia at Gabba in January 2021 while his last Test appearance was against England in March of that year.

The inclusion of four net spinners indicates that spin-friendly surfaces will be dished out during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023. Notably, the Indian squad already has four spinners in R Ashwin, Akshar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravindra Jadeja.

The BCCI, national selectors and team management also thought it was not necessary to have extra fast bowlers for the practice sessions as the hosts will take help of local pacers at the nets.

The highly-anticipated Test series between India and Australia is slated to get underway on February 9 in Nagpur. Delhi will host the second Test from February 17 while Dharamshala and Ahmedabad will stage the third and fourth Tests from March 1 and March 9, respectively.

India's squad for the first two Tests against Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, Akshar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.

(With Cricbuzz Inputs)