The squad for the next India vs Australia Border Gavaskar Trophy was recently released. The Rohit Sharma-led side had debutants like Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy while other inclusions were on expected lines. The India vs Australia Test series is generally considered the gold standard of bilateral series in current cricket context. India have been dominating the series sinxe 2018-19 when it registered a brave win in Australia. 

Cheteshwar Pujara has been the hero of several India vs Australia series. His solid resistance was often the differentiator. However, he has not been considered for the Indian team in June 2023. He was ignored this time also. 

Now, days after the squad announcement, Pujara posted a video of his training with the caption: “Sore today, strong tomorrow”. The post has got the internet talking. 

Go to Australia with your own expenses we need you there

— N. Mishra (@mishra_jee_says) October 29, 2024

This comment section is ready to fly you to Australia

— Anshul Sadhale (@AnshulGains) October 29, 2024

Where are you practicing . ?

Hope you will join Australian tour

Else definitely miss you

— Roshan Dsouza (@roshrise) October 29, 2024

Hanuma Vihari, part of India’s back to back series wins in Australia, reckons the services of veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara will be be dearly missed when the team aims for a hat-trick Down Under later this year.

“Pujara will be a big miss. he was the backbone of the batting line-up in the last two series for Team India. He took blows, he batted time, he stayed there for a long time, he saw the new ball, he got runs. He made the job easier for the other batters coming in,” Vihari told PTI in an interaction arranged by JioCinema.

“So that kind of role… who will play is a question mark for me. Currently I would say we have an attacking mode of a batting line up (the top six). All like to play their shots. Virat is the only one I feel in that batting line up who can be like a glue to the other batters.

“He can stay on and bat the most number of overs and you know batting in Australia is all about time. If you see off the new ball, it gets a little easier with the older Kookaburra ball,” added Vihari who played the last of his 16 Tests in July 2022.

India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. 

Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed