Star spinner Kuldeep Yadav missed out on India's squad for the upcoming The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has named an 18-member squad for the much-anticipated squad for the series which gets underway from November 22. After scoring tons of runs in the domestic circuit, Abhimanyu Easwaran has made a return to the Indian team and can play the first match as Rohit Sharma is doubtful for the opener.
Three uncapped Test players have also been named in the 18-member. Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana and Abhimanyu Easwaran are in line for their Test debuts. Meanwhile, Kuldeep has not been picked in the squad.
BCCI reveals why Kuldeep Yadav is not named in the squad
Meanwhile, the Indian Board revealed the reason behind Kuldeep missing out from the squad. "Kuldeep Yadav was unavailable for selection for the tour of Australia since he has been referred to the BCCI Centre of Excellence after the end of the ongoing Test series against New Zealand for long term resolution of his chronic left groin issue," BCCI wrote in a statement while naming the squad.
Notably, Kuldeep is among the top-choice spinners for the Indian team in all three formats despite being dropped from the second Test against New Zealand. Kuldeep has played 13 Tests for India and has 56 wickets in the format.
India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Notably, Washington Sundar, who impressed in the second Test against New Zealand, has been added to the squad too. Mohammed Shami is not in the squad as he was unlikely to play the initial matches, as stated by captain Rohit Sharma earlier. Meanwhile, Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel are also not in the Test squad.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed
