New Delhi: Delhi speedster Harshit Rana and Andhra seam bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy have earned their maiden call-up in the 18-member Indian team led by Rohit Sharma for the upcoming five-Test series against Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The series starts November 22 with the Test at Perth.
There is no Mohammed Shami in the squad while Kuldeep Yadav has been advised long term rehabilitation for his groin injury.
From the squad picked for New Zealand series, Axar Patel has been dropped. However, all-rounder Washington Sundar, who has so far picked up 11 wickets against the Kiwis in the ongoing Test at Pune, has found a place in the team for Down Under.
Prior to their departure for Australia, the Men in Blue will play a four-match T20I series against South Africa at home. Karnataka seamer Vyshak Vijaykumar and Punjab batter Ramandeep Singh have been included while express pacer Mayank Yadav has again got injured. He is at the Centre of Excellence for recuperation.
Squad for Australia: Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar.
Team for T20Is: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan and Yash Dayal.
PTI