21-year-old Indian National Cricket Team fast bowling all-rounder Nitish Reddy is all set to make his Test debut in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
According to a recent report in Indian Express, the Indian team management has decided to hand over the Test cap to Nitish Reddy for the inaugural Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth.
Also read: Jasprit Bumrah, appointed captain like Rohit Sharma, dashes BCCI’s hopes and skips the Perth Test
Nitish Reddy will be India’s fourth seamer
The 21-year-old all-rounder is viewed as the fourth seamer by the Indian team management, with the top three comprising Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana.
The surface at Perth’s Optus Stadium will have plenty of bounce and carry and it will be the perfect time to unleash Reddy, who can take full advantage of the conditions on offer.
Nitish Reddy was chosen over Shardul Thakur despite the latter’s past heroics. The youngster got the nod from head coach Gautam Gambhir and was given the nod for the marquee Test series.
Reddy has played 3 T20Is for the Indian National Cricket Team so far and has been very impressive. Talking about his first-class record, he played 23 matches and scored 779 runs at an average of 21.05. With the ball, he took 56 first-class wickets.
Rohit Sharma out of Perth Test
As Nitish Reddy made his Test debut, he will not be playing under Rohit Sharma as the Indian captain decided to skip the Perth Test.
Rohit Sharma did not travel to Australia with the Indian team and stayed in Mumbai to be with his wife for the birth of their second child. They welcomed a baby boy on November 15 and Rohit decided to stay with his family for a while longer.
The Indian skipper has officially informed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) about his decision to miss the match and designated vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah will take over the leadership duties.
KL Rahul recovered from injury, likely to play 1st Test against Australia
Apart from Rohit Sharma, India will be without the services of Shubman Gill who has a broken thumb. He injured his thumb while sliding on Day 2 of the match simulation.
Scans revealed a fracture and Gill was declared unavailable for the Perth Test. He will take around 14 days to recover and could feature in the second match.
Meanwhile, stand-in KL Rahul also had an injury scare as he was hit on the elbow while facing Prasidh Krishna during the intra-squad match.
However, he returned to the net on Sunday, November 17, and confirmed that he was completely fine in a video shared by BTSO.
According to reports, KL Rahul is all set to go to India with the playing XI in Perth and wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel will also feature as a specialist batsman.
