Reddy, Rana handed Test debuts as India bench Ashwin, Jadeja for 1st Test against Australia

Seam-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy and pacer Harshit Rana were handed their debuts by Team India for the opening Test of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in Perth on Friday. India, additionally, won the toss and stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah opted to bat, with Devdutt Padikkal making only his second Test appearance after being drafted into the number three spot.

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Reddy had made his international debut during the T20I series against Bangladesh at home and makes his Test debut at the Optus Stadium in Perth. Delhi and Kolkata Knight Riders pacer Rana, on the other hand, makes his maiden appearance for the Indian team on Friday.India, additionally, went with all-rounder Washington Sundar as their only spin option, resulting in senior pros Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja getting benched. Sundar had been in fine form with the bat during the Test series against New Zealand at home, in which the Rohit Sharma-led Indian side ended up suffering a shocking 0-3 whitewash.

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A crucial toss won by the Indian skipper #JaspritBumrah who elected to bat first! 💪

An ideal first innings total on this pitch? _______ 👇

📺 #AUSvINDOnStar 👉 1st Test, Day 1, LIVE NOW! #ToughestRivalry pic.twitter.com/o3z3RC9FP5

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) November 22, 2024

Padikkal replaces Shubman Gill at the No 3 spot, with the latter sitting out of the Perth Test after fracturing his thumb while fielding during a match-simulation session at the nearby WACA Stadium. Gill is expected to be fit for the second Test in Adelaide, which gets underway on 6 December. Padikkal, meanwhile, wasn’t originally part of the India squad, having been part of the India A-Australia A ‘Test’ series, and was only included last-minute following Gill’s injury.

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The Aussies, who currently are leading in the ICC World Test Championship standings, decided to hand Nathan McSweeney his Test debut on Friday, with the South Australian all-rounder opening alongside Usman Khawaja.

McSweeney had topped the batting chart while leading Australia A to a 2-0 series sweep over the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led India A recently. He beat the likes of Marcus Harris and Sam Konstas to the spot at the top of the Australian batting order that had been vacated by batting great David Warner following his red-ball retirement in January, and was briefly occupied by Steve Smith.

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Teams:

Australia: Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey(wk), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

India: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(wk), Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah(c), Mohammed Siraj