Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav headline India squad for Australia series

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has named Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav in the Test squad for the first two matches of India’s upcoming four-game series against Australia. Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah misses out of the 17-member roster due to an injury to his right glute whereas Ravindra Jadeja’s participation in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is subject to his fitness as of now.

 Jaydev Unadkat is a part of India’s pace quartet that includes Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Siraj alongside him. Rishabh Pant’s recent car accident and subsequent layoff sees Konas Bharat being named as the other wicket-keeper in the squad besides Kishan.

India’s squad for first 2 Tests vs Australia:
Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, C Pujara, V Kohli, S Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav

Surya, Kishan – Rewarded for limited-overs exploits?

The induction of Suryakumar and Kishan in the squad certainly adds tremendous firepower and dynamism to the Indian batting lineup. The two of them strike at 63.56 and 68.90 in their first-class careers respectively. But more importantly, they have been in sublime form in white-ball cricket recently.

Ever since debuting in February 2021, Suryakumar has averaged 46.81 with a strike rate of 180.34 in T20Is. He has notched three international centuries in the shortest format of the game and it was about time that his peerless caliber was put into use in red-ball format as well.

Similarly, Kishan broke the glass door down with his double century in India’s third ODI against Bangladesh last month. He might appear to be a like-to-like replacement to Pant but whether or not he manages to pip Bharat in the lineup remains to be seen as the latter has been a backup to the Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper for a considerable period of time now.

Jadeja Returns?

Jadeja has been out of cricketing action since suffering a knee injury during the Asia Cup in August 2021. The 34-year-old instills incredible all-round value in the playing XI and the team management might be eagerly hoping for him to clear his fitness requirements to make it to the series. In case he doesn’t, Axar Patel has shown good form recently and could very well slot in for the Saurashtra superstar. Ravichandran Ashwin is very likely to take over the frontline spinner’s responsibility in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Pace Attack

The fast bowling unit will absolutely miss Bumrah’s domineering presence but his recent layoffs have perhaps acclimatized the team to deal without him. Shami and Umesh have been pillars for long and Siraj will perhaps supplement the duo as the third pacer in the playing XI.

India Squad –

Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, C Pujara, V Kohli, S Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav

India Predicted Lineup –

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill/KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja/Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj/Kuldeep Yadav