The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday announced the squads for India’s tour of Australia coming up in late this year. India will take part in three T20Is, three ODIs and four Test matches against the hosts.

The All-India Senior Selection Committee via video-conference decided the team that will see the Kangaroos first to contest for the Border-Gavaskar trophy and then in two limited overs series.

India’s regular limited-overs vice captain Rohit Sharma was not included in any squad owing to a hamstring injury he sustained during the double super over clash against Kings XI Punjab last week. KL Rahul will fill Sharma’s shoes as the Virat Kohli’s deputy. Pacer Ishant Sharma was not names as he nursing a muscle tear, endured earlier in the IPL. Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Mohammed Siraj has been named as the fifth fast bowler, Ishant Sharma’s potential replacement in the test squad.

While the Indian team’s limited overs squad is majorly unchanged, the addition of mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy in the T20 team instead of the regular Kuldeep Yadav did make headlines. Chakravarthy would be hoping for his international debut in the series. The Kolkata Knight Riders’ spinner has dismissed 12 batsmen in the IPL so far, at a miserly economy rate of 7.05. He also registered the best bowling figures of IPL 2020 (5/20) by getting a five wicket haul against Delhi Capitals. While KL Rahul and Sanju Samson will travel as the wicketkeepers for the limited overs series, Wriddhiman Saha and Rishabh Pant have got the glove duties in the Test squad. 

T20I squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (vice-captain and wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy

ODI squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (vice-captain & wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur

Test squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Mohd. Siraj.

Four additional bowlers – Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi, Ishan Porel and T. Natarajan – will travel with the Indian contingent.