India have added Mumbai all-rounder, Tanush Kotian, to join their squad for the remainder of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy ahead of the Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne, BCCI confirmed on Monday. Kotian, who plays for Mumbai in the domestic circuit, has been handed his maiden International call-up after Ravichandran Ashwin's retirement.
Kotian, an off-spin all-rounder, was part of the India A squad ahead of the BGT and played in the second unofficial Test against Australia A. His call-up comes after Ravichandran Ashwin's retirement and despite India already having another offie, Washington Sundar in the team.
Kotian will reportedly leave for Australia on Tuesday, two days ahead of the start of the Melbourne Test.
Kotian is part of the Mumbai team in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy and has featured in both matches till now. He did not get to bat in the first game and was expensive with the ball. However, he returned with figures of 2/38 in his 10 overs and scored 39 with the bat in the second match.
The 26-year-old Kotian is one of the rising stars in the Indian domestic circuit. He has played 33 first-class games and has picked 101 wickets. He has also made 1525 runs at an average of 41.21 with two centuries to his name too. He was part of Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2024 and played one match for the inaugural champions. The 26-year-old all-rounder went unsold at the 2025 mega auction after coming at the base price of Rs 30 lakh.
India are a spin-bowler short after the retirement of Ashwin. They have Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja as the specialist spinners. Kotian's addition can be interpreted as a cover-up and also an option for the future, considering he has been doing well in the domestic arena.
The Border-Gavaskar series is locked at 1-1 after rain washed the third Test at Gabba. The visitors had won the first match by a massive margin of 295 runs but lost the second game in Adelaide by 10 wickets. The Boxing Day Test will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from December 26 onwards.
India’s squad for fourth and fifth Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Devdutt Padikkal, Tanush Kotian
