Shami, Kuldeep miss out as India name Border-Gavaskar squad

Seamer Mohammed Shami will not play in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series against Australia while spinner Kuldeep Yadav has been sidelined with a groin injury.

Shami, who has not played for India since the 2023 one-day World Cup due to an ankle injury, has not been named in the Rohit Sharma-led squad for the five-match Test series starting on Nov 22 in Perth.

India have opted for Akash Deep as a third seamer behind Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj while spinner Kuldeep will miss the Test series due to a chronic left groin issue.

India's Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar

 

Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed

"Kuldeep Yadav...has been referred to the BCCI Centre of Excellence after the end of the ongoing Test series against New Zealand for long-term resolution of his chronic left groin issue," the BCCI said in a statement.

Shami was a key player in India's victory Down Under in 2018-19, taking 16 wickets across the four Tests. 

Although he featured just once in the 2020-21 series after getting injured in Adelaide, Shami has gotten better with age with his controlled swing dominating the 2023 ODI World Cup. 

Now almost 12 months since his most recent match (the final loss to Australia on November 19), the signs of Shami's recovery had been positive, with the veteran fast man spotted bowling during the intervals of the first Test between India and New Zealand.  

However, not only has Shami missed India's 18-player squad, the three reserve players named are all fast bowlers too, making a mid-series appearance extremely unlikely. 

Kuldeep has 22 wickets at 23.09 this year in Tests, with his left-arm wrist-spin providing a valuable point of difference to the off-spin of Ravichandran Ashwin and Washington Sundar (right-armers) and Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel (left-armers). 

India have included three spinning allrounders in Ashwin, Jadeja and Sundar.

With skipper Rohit reportedly likely to miss one of the first two Tests for personal reasons, 29-year-old opener Abhimanyu could make his Test debut on the back of strong domestic form.

Of the back-up seamers, India have had high hopes for the tall, quick and whippy Prasidh Krishna for some time in an injury-marred career, while unproven Harshit Rana had an impressive IPL campaign.

Reddy is a bolter selection, a 21-year-old seam bowling all-rounder who shone for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL under skipper Pat Cummins.

India also announced the Twenty20 international squad for their four-match T20 series against South Africa, starting on November 9 (AEDT) in Durban.

Allrounder Ramandeep Singh, pace bowler Vijaykumar Vyshak, and left-arm seamer Yash Dayal have received their maiden T20I call-ups in the side led by captain Suryakumar Yadav.

Allrounder Riyan Parag has been left out of the squad due to a right shoulder injury while pacer Mayank Yadav and all-rounder Shivam Dube were also unavailable for selection owing to injuries, the BCCI said.

India's T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal 

The T20 World Cup champions will take on hosts South Africa in an unusual four-match T20I series. 

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: November 22-26: Perth Stadium, 1.20pm AEDT

Second Test: December 6-10: Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (D/N)

Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT