Gautam Gambhir ‘Pushing his case…’: Inside details of surprising selection calls in India v Australia squad

Delhi speedster Harshit Rana and Andhra bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy have received their maiden call-ups in Rohit Sharma’s 18-man Indian squad for the upcoming five-Test series against Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Delhi speedster Harshit has only nine first-class matches in which he has taken 36 wickets. However, thanks to a brilliant IPL 2024 season under Gautam Gambhir’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), where he took 19 wickets, Rana quickly gained recognition across the country and was part of squads across formats, although he is yet to make his debut. A BCCI source revealed that Rana was selected solely by Gambhir

“Harshit Rana was completely chosen by Gautam Gambhir. He has been pressing on the issue for the longest time since the start of the Sri Lanka tour,” a BCCI source told PTI on condition of anonymity.

He regularly bowls in the 140-click range and has a good short ball, apart from being able to nail yorkies brilliantly.

“He was also kept as a reserve bowler. Since he is younger and faster than Navdeep Saini and Mukesh Kumar, he included them in the final squad,” the source added.

However, pacer Mohammed Shami is not in the squad and left wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav has been advised long-term rehabilitation due to a groin injury.

From the squad selected for the New Zealand series, Axar Patel was dropped as off-spinner Washington Sundar, who already has 11 wickets in his kitty in the ongoing Pune Test, was preferred over the Gujarat left-arm spinner.

Bengal’s Abhimanyu Easwaran came into the squad as a reserve opener after four straight sets in the Duleep, Irani and Ranji Trophy matches.

The cover comes in the wake of Rohit possibly missing one of the earlier Test matches due to personal reasons.

KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan occupy the midfield positions while Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel are the two goalkeepers.

Prasidh Krishna, the lanky player who made his debut for South Africa last year, returns to the squad after a long injury lay-off.

As for Nitish Reddy, he has a century and two five-wicket wins in his 21 first-class matches and his selection was rather forced as the all-seam bowling cabinet was empty.

“Hardik Pandya has stopped playing red-ball cricket and Shivam Dube’s bowling (he is injured) is not up to par.

“Nitish is a work in progress but if India is to restore balance, they need a fourth player who will be an all-rounder. Hence, Nitish is a desperate choice considering his performances in IPL and Bangladesh,” said a source.

It is understood that it will not be a surprise if Washington moves ahead in the Australian pecking order for the second spinner’s spot (the first bowler will be Ravindra Jadeja) over Ravichandran Ashwin due to his excellent batting skills, which have already been tested in Australia during the last tour.

Among batsmen, Easwaran was rewarded with four hundreds on the trot, but he could also be a stonemason like Cheteshwar Pujara if needed in any part of the series.

Axar must have missed out as he would have been one spinner too many with Jadeja already in the squad.

Mayank Yadav injured again India’s fastest bowler Mayank Yadav was injured again after making an impressive international debut against Bangladesh, resulting in him missing the tour of South Africa for four T20Is.

KKR all-round batsman Ramandeep Singh and Karnataka speedster Vyshak Vijaykumar are the new additions to the T20I squad.

Dube (back injury) and Riyan Parag (shoulder injury) return to the Center of Excellence for intensive rehabilitation.

India will defend the Granica-Gavaskar trophy from November 22 in Perth.

India 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.

Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed.

India squad for 4 T20Is against South Africa: 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, Yash Dayal.

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