India v/s Australia: Selectors retain same squad, no place for injured Shami, Rohit

Indian team for the first two Test matches of the upcoming 4-match Test series against Australia was announced on Tuesday. Lead by Virat Kohli, the same team that played in the one-off Test against Bangladesh will face the Aussie challenge beginning on February 23 in Pune.

Barring all surprises the same 16-member squad has been retained. Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav who came on board after leggie Amit Mishra got injured, will support the spin attack led by Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Jayant Yadav. 

Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav will take care of the pace attack.

Rohit Sharma and Parthiv Patel failed to make space in the team for the tour. Kohli will rely on his consistent performers Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, and Wriddhiman Saha with Karun Nair and KL Rahul adding to bench strength.

This could also be an opportunity for Hardik Pandya to make his Test debut.

The first Test in the series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy commences at Pune's Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium on February 23 to be followed by the next three games at Bengaluru (March 4-8), Ranchi (March 16-20) and Dharamshala (March 25-29).

The Australian squad, led by Steve Smith, arrived in Mumbai ahead of the four-match rubber and will play a three-day warm-up game against an India A squad led by Hardik Pandya at the Cricket Club of India's Brabourne Stadium from February 17-19 before proceeding to Pune.

Team India Squad

Virat Kohli (Captain), Murali Vijay, KL 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.

(With Agency Inputs)