Selectors name Indian team for the first two Tests against Australia

The Indian team for the first two Tests against the touring Australian team was announced today. The national selectors were completely satisfied with the squad that they fielded in the one-off Test against Bangladesh and thus didn’t find the need to make any changes in the team. They have thus decided to retain the same team for the first half of the Test series against the Aussies.

It was expected that the selectors will not make any changes from the 16-man squad that featured against Bangladesh except in case either or all among the three injured players Rohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Amit Mishra were fit and available for the series.

Rohit has been out of the team since the last ODI against New Zealand. He suffered a thigh injury for which he also underwent the knife in England and was expected to be fit for the Australia tour. There was no update shared by the BCCI with the squad on his fitness status but it is believed that Rohit isn’t 100 percent fit yet for Test cricket.

Pacer Mohammad Shami and leg-spinner Amit Mishra have also missed out from the team. Both the bowlers have troubles with their knee and weren’t available for selection for the first two matches.

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It will be interesting to see what strategy the Indian team deploys against the Australians. They fielded a 3:2 bowling attack in the Hyderabad Test against Bangladesh with Pune, Bengaluru, Ranchi, and Dharamshala hosting the four Tests of the series it will be interesting to see the combination the hosts opt for.

A four-Test long series might earn Karun Nair, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav and Hardik Pandya an opportunity in the team while Abhinav Mukund continues to be with the team as the backup opener.

Indian Test team for the first two Tests against Australia:

Virat Kohli (Capt), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Karun Nair, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund and Hardik Pandya