The BCCI has announced India’s squad for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. India aims for a third consecutive win over Australia on their home turf in this 5 match Test series.
The BCCI made some surprising choices giving first-time Test call-ups to several players. One notable decision was leaving out Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, while KL Rahul retained his spot despite recent criticism.
India is currently hosting New Zealand in the second of a three-Test series. After a surprising defeat in Bengaluru and the risk of losing the series in Pune – the upcoming BGT series has become more crucial.
India currently leading the World Test Championship rankings with a 68.06% win percentage is aiming for a third straight WTC final appearance in June 2025. A series win in Australia could help India widen the lead over other top teams. Australia is second in the WTC rankings with a 62.50% win rate.
On October 25, the BCCI named an 18-player squad for the series, along with three reserves. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill have become key top-order players alongside Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
In a surprise move Abhimanyu Easwaran was added as cover for Rohit who might miss one of the first two Tests for personal reasons.
The middle-order includes KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Sarfaraz Khan, with Dhruv Jurel as backup wicketkeeper. Despite strong domestic performances, Shreyas Iyer wasn’t included in the squad.
India’s Complete Squad for Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25
- Rohit Sharma (C)
- Jasprit Bumrah (VC)
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- Abhimanyu Easwaran
- Shubman Gill
- Virat Kohli
- KL Rahul
- Rishabh Pant (wk)
- Sarfaraz Khan
- Dhruv Jurel
- Ravi Ashwin
- Ravi Jadeja
- Mohammad Siraj
- Akash Deep
- Prasidh Krishna
- Harshit Rana
- Nitish Kumar Reddy
- Washington Sundar
Travelling Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed
Vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah leads the pace attack, which has been given extra depth with five specialist pacers and one pace all-rounder. Mohammad Siraj, Akash Deep, and Prasidh Krishna join Bumrah.
Newcomers Harshit Rana (pacer) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (all-rounder) were also called up. Mohammed Shami is unavailable for this tour as he’s still recovering from an injury.
