India vs Australia 2024 Strongest Test Playing 11 for BG Trophy

India vs Australia 2024 BG Trophy Test Series Strongest Playing 11

October 26, 2024 Abhay Kothari Cricket, Cricket News, India Cricket Team, India vs Australia, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Team India, Test Cricket, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal 5 min read

Nitish Reddy in contention for debut in our strongest playing 11 for India vs Australia 2024 Border Gavaskar Test series.

The November month will witness two of the biggest events of the year, the Indian Premier League 2025 Mega Auction, and the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. While the IPL 2025 Mega Auction will generate a lot of buzz given the tremendous fan following of the event, the BG Trophy will be very important for the Indian team given now that the World Test Championship 2025 Final qualification is on the line.

India have lost the first Test match against New Zealand at home, and are almost on the verge of losing the second Test match. Two back-to-back losses against New Zealand at home will be the last thing India would want, but it’s the unfortunate situation that India are in. While India will still be in contention for the WTC Final, there will be extra added pressure on the Indian team when they play the 5-match Test series vs Australia in Australia.

One positive thing for the Indian team is that the last two Test series in Australia have been won by the Indian team, and that should give confidence to the Indian team. But as they say, the law of averages can catch up with the Indian team, and with the confidence of the Indian team at an all-time low, it will be very difficult to come out of this misery. Even if we look at the squad, it does have potential, but there is a big gap in terms of fast bowling for the Indian team, and that can be the deciding factor.

Table of Contents - Cricgasm

India vs Australia 2024 Official Test Squad and Players List:

Abhimanyu Easwaran
KL Rahul
Rohit Sharma (c)
Sarfaraz Khan
Shubman Gill
Virat Kohli
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Dhruv Jurel (wk)
Rishabh Pant (wk)
Nitish Reddy
Ravindra Jadeja
Ravichandran Ashwin
Washington Sundar
Akash Deep
Harshit Rana
Jasprit Bumrah (vc)
Mohammed Siraj
Prasidh Krishna

Travelling Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini & Khaleel Ahmed

India have selected an 18-member squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Compared to the squad that we have for the New Zealand series, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel have been left out. And in the form of new additions, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana, and Prasidh Krishna have been picked up. So, with so many changes in the team, let’s analyze the complete squad, and find out the strongest Test series playing 11 for India vs Australia 2024-25 BG trophy.

India vs Australia 2024 Test Playing 11 Explained:

It is expected that Rohit Sharma will miss the first test match due to parental duties, but he will be available for the remainder of the series. So, for the strongest opening combination, the team will still continue with Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal. However, in Rohit’s absence, India might play Gill as the opener, and play both, Sarfaraz Khan and KL Rahul in the middle-order.

With Rohit and Jaiswal opening, the rest of the middle-order should be in sync with the New Zealand series with Shubman Gil at 3, Virat Kohli at 4, and Rishabh Pant at 5. However, the lower-order might see a change with India playing Nitish Reddy as the pace allrounder ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin, who might be left out of the squad to accommodate a fast-bowling all-rounder. Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja should continue to be the first-choice all-rounder for the Australia series.

It does seem logical as Nitish Reddy will not only give you the expected batting depth but will also give you a fourth seam option. Hence, in all likelihood, India will debut Nitish Reddy in Perth. There could also be another possibility where India play Ashwin, and drop one of the fast bowlers. But that may not happen on all the pitches, except for Sydney, where spinners do get more assistance.

Finally, for the pace department, India will miss Mohammed Shami badly. Without Shami, India will have to rely on Jasprit Bumrah to lead the pace department with support from Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep. Given the current scenario, these three are the leading pacers in the squad, and should be given the preference. However, India can also contemplate playing Prasidh Krishna above Akash Deep or Siraj.