As India suffered the biggest blow in form of Ishant Sharma being ruled out ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has asked the in-form white-ball bowlers T Natarajan, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar to stay back in Australia for the upcoming Test series.
After the conclusion of the six-match limited-overs series, Indian players like Shikhar Dhawan, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Deepak Chahar were sent back home, but the bowling trio will continue to stay with the Test squad as cover after Ishant was ruled out of the four-match Test series.
Team India will take on the mighty hosts without their key and experienced pacer Ishant as he is building up his workload in order to achieve Test match fitness after recovering from a side strain that he had sustained during the IPL 2020 at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
Following the major blow, Shardul, Natarajan, and Washington have been retained by the Indian cricket team as back-up and net bowlers for the upcoming four-match Test series in Australia, starting with the Day-Night first Test on December 17 at Adelaide Oval.
However, the left-arm seamer Natarajan, who was a standout performer for India in the white-ball series, especially T20Is, was already in the plan to stay throughout the Australia tour, but Shardul and Sundar were also asked to stay back for the all-important Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Meanwhile, in the spin department, India will have the trio of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav to pick the most suitable option for the conditions in the Test series in Australia.
Well, India received a major boost before the Test series, as opening batsman Rohit Sharma is reportedly fit and set to fly to Australia, though, he can only play in the third and fourth Tests Down Under.
After the first Test in Adelaide, captain Virat Kohli will fly back home on paternity leave as the cricketer and his wife Anushka Sharma are expecting their first child in early January.
Noteworthy, Washington would be handy as a net bowler with his uncanny off-spinners for India to prepare for Nathan Lyon in the much-awaited Test series.
(With Sportstar Inputs)
