White-ball expert Suryakumar Yadav and wicketkeeper KS Bharat both received their Test debuts from India for the opening match of the four-match series on Thursday at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha.
Choosing to bat first against India in the opening Test of the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, Australia captain Pat Cummins won the toss and made that decision.
White-ball expert Suryakumar Yadav and wicketkeeper KS Bharat both received their Test debuts from India for the opening match of the four-match series on Thursday at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha.
At the VCA Stadium, in front of colleagues and the families of both players, Cheteshwar Pujara presented Yadav his India Test cap, while former India captain and current coach Ravi Shastri gave Bharat his.
It was believed that KS Bharat would be chosen over Ishan Kishan to replace the injured Rishabh Pant since Pant is a top-order batsman and India needed to strengthen that area of their batting lineup without him.
Suryakumar, who has been in excellent form over the past couple of years and has played cricket in the Ranji Trophy for more than five or six years, gives the middle order additional flesh.
Yadav is the 15th oldest player to make his India debut at 32 years and 148 days old.
Invoking Xis:
India: Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat, Rohit Sharma, and R Ashwin.
Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (wk), Todd Murphy, Scott Boland, and David Warner are all Australian players.
