The BCCI, on October 25, 2024, announced the Team India squad for the upcoming Test tour of Australia. The two sides will play in a five-Test series for the first time since 1991-92 for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25. The five-Test tour of Australia begins on November 22.
The squad is led by Rohit Sharma, with Jasprit Bumrah serving as vice-captain. However, with Rohit slated to miss one of the first two Tests due to personal reasons, Abhimanyu, 29, will likely make his Test debut on this tour.
He was previously a member of India's Test squad in Bangladesh in 2022 and has been in outstanding form this domestic season, scoring two hundreds in the Duleep Trophy, another century in the Irani Trophy, and starting the Ranji Trophy season with a ton for Bengal.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, and Rishabh Pant will form the middle order for India, with Dhruv Jurel being the second wicketkeeper. India has picked three spin allrounders R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Washington Sundar, who marked his return to the Test team after more than three years against New Zealand in Pune.
India's team of 18 includes three uncapped players: opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, fast bowler Harshit Rana, and allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who has not fully recovered from ankle surgery earlier this year, was left out, while wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav was also ruled out due to a "chronic left groin issue".
Nitish Reddy is already in Australia with the India A side and has recently made his T20I debut for India against Bangladesh.
In addition to Bumrah, the squad's other fast bowlers include Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh, and Rana. Prasidh, who has previously played two Tests, has only recently resumed playing after recuperating from a debilitating back injury, while Rana, 22, has only played nine first-class matches.
India's tour begins with a warm-up match against India A in Perth on November 15-17, followed by the first Test against Australia at Perth Stadium on November 22-26.
They then go to Canberra for a tour match against the Prime Minister's XI on November 30 and December 1, before continuing to Adelaide for the second Test, a day-night match from December 6 to 10.
The third Test in Brisbane runs from December 14 to 18, followed by the annual Boxing Day Test in Melbourne on December 26 and the New Year's Test in Sydney on January 3.
Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, and Khaleel Ahmed are part of the traveling reserves.
India squad for the tour of Australia:
Rohit Sharma (capt), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed.
(BCCI inputs)
