Perth Test: India opt to bat first as Nitish Reddy and Harshit Rana debut, Washington Sundar lone spinner

Jasprit Bumrah-led India have opted to bat first in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 series opener at the Perth Stadium, Perth on Friday (Nov 22). Nitish Reddy and Harshit Rana have been included in the playing XI but the visitors have no R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as Washington Sundar, who had a great run versus New Zealand in the home series last month, is the lone spinner for the visitors.

At the coin toss, stand-in captain Bumrah said, "We are going to bat first, looks like a good wicket. Very confident with our preparation. We played a Test match here in 2018 so we know what to expect. The wicket gets quicker. Nitish makes his debut. We have 4 quicks and Washi is the lone spinner."

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It was reported earlier that India would go in with Nitish Reddy and Harshit. The latter, who plays for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL, impressed one and all in the practice sessions Down Under whereas Nitish will serve as the fourth pacer, along with his handy batting abilities.

Harshit and Nitish were presented with their Test caps by Ashwin and Virat Kohli, respectively. While this is Harshit's international debut, Nitish -- one of the stars for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2024 -- made his T20I debut early this year and was impressive.

India are without regular captain Rohit Sharma, who missed out due to the birth of his second child. Hitman will join the Indian squad on Nov 24 (Sunday) in Perth.

For Australia,Nathan McSweeney makes his debut.

Playing XIs

Australia: Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

India: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah (c), Mohammed Siraj