In India's 18-man squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the end of the year in Australia is a fairly inexperienced bowling attack. There is no Mohammed Shami or Kuldeep Yadav, and an uncapped opener is likely to make his Test debut early in the series. Here's a look at five players in the squad - three of them yet to make their Test debuts - who were picked ahead of more established names.
Abhimanyu Easwaran
The 29-year-old opening bat from Bengal has been part of India's Test squads in the recent past after grinding it out in domestic cricket for over a decade. Abhimanyu Easwaran has the body of work to instil confidence in the team management - and himself - if he needs to open in the absence of Rohit Sharma in Perth or Adelaide early on in the five-match series. An old-school batter, Abhimanyu is already in Australia for two India A games and would have played 100 first-class games by the time the Test series starts.
He has over 7600 first-class runs while averaging nearly 50, and his recent form probably helped him pip the likes of B Sai Sudharsan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devdutt Padikkal for the reserve opener's slot. Abhimanyu has scored a century in each of his last four first-class games, against a variety of bowling attacks at that, starting with 157* and 116 in the Duleep Trophy followed by 191 against Mumbai in the Irani Cup before starting the Ranji Trophy season with a second-innings 127* against Uttar Pradesh. India will hope he can continue this streak into the 'A' series while facing the likes of Scott Boland, Michael Neser and Todd Murphy, Test cricketers all of them.
Washington Sundar
Back in the Test circuit after over three years, Washington Sundar proved in Pune that he deserved to brought into the Test XI from the Ranji Trophy.
His stifling offbreaks, delivered from close to the stumps, fetched him seven wickets - of which six were bowled or lbw - in the first innings before he picked up another four in similar fashion in the second. It'll be a surprise if he plays a Test in Australia ahead of Ravindra Jadeja or R Ashwin, but if either of them is unavailable, Washington will fit right in - and his batting will help him push his case.
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He came into the Pune Test against New Zealand on the back of a 152 for Tamil Nadu from No. 3 - even if on a flat deck against an inexperienced and injury-hit Delhi attack - but his classy 62 at the Gabba on India's previous tour of Australia and his unbeaten half-centuries against England at home in early 2021 are proof that he can do it against better bowling too.
His height could fetch him extra bounce on the Australian tracks and his previous experience of playing there in 2021 bodes well for him, if India need an offspin-bowling allrounder.
Nitish Kumar Reddy
One of the key players for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their run to the IPL 2024 final earlier this year, the seam-bowling allrounder earned a T20I debut earlier this month against Bangladesh. Just 21, Nitish Kumar Reddy's batting exploits in the middle order have been on show for a while now, first while rescuing SRH with blazing knocks in the IPL and then the 74 off 34 in the second T20I against Bangladesh, where he also picked up two wickets while opening the bowling.
Nitish Kumar Reddy was picked in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad ahead of Shardul Thakur
His performances in the Duleep Trophy before the India debut didn't inspire much confidence, though. Reddy bagged two ducks in five innings with a high score of 40 not out and picked up only two wickets across 48 overs.
However, he has the ability to swing the ball both ways in the mid-130s, as he has shown for Andhra in the domestic circuit with a fairly new ball, being their top wicket-taker in the last Ranji Trophy season with 25 wickets at 18.76. That tally featured a five-for against Mumbai, including the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer, and the India team management will hope he gets some overs under his belt in the 'A' series before the Tests.
Called "awesome" by his SRH captain Pat Cummins, Reddy's inclusion for Australia shows the faith the selectors have shown in a young allrounder over the established Shardul Thakur, who is back playing domestic cricket after an injury layoff and had contributed with seven wickets and a valuable knock of 67 in Brisbane in 2021.
Prasidh Krishna
Prasidh Krishna is also returning from injury but he got himself a Test berth, unlike Thakur, after proving his fitness with four first-class games at the start of this domestic season. Even though he returned unimpressive numbers in his two Tests in South Africa in 2023-24, leaking runs at more than 4.60 an over in his 28 overs for just two wickets, it's his height that works in his favour. He can draw extra bounce, is accurate, and bowls with the sort of pace that India are hoping will come handy in Australia, especially if they need to change the combination - because of workload or injuries - in a long series.
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Prasidh is also with the India A squad for the two first-class games to be played in Mackay and Melbourne, and India will want him to stay fit. And also find some form. Since his comeback in September, he has picked up just seven wickets in as many innings across the Duleep Trophy, the Irani Cup and the eight overs he bowled in a Ranji Trophy game for Karnataka.
Harshit Rana
The least experienced of the 21 players - including the reserves - picked for the tour with just nine first-class matches, Harshit Rana is a tall and bustling fast bowler from Delhi who made his IPL debut, for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), before his senior domestic debut. Rana, too, featured in the Duleep Trophy at the start of the season and collected two four-fors while opening the bowling. He was KKR's best fast bowler - with 19 wickets and an economy rate of 9.08 - in their victorious IPL 2024 campaign and would have been closely watched by Gautam Gambhir and Abhishek Nayar, who have both moved from the KKR dressing room to India's.
While it was his variations and death-overs exploits that shone through in the IPL, Rana has also proven himself with the red ball in a fledgling career, and at times given the ball a good bash down the order. He bagged 21 wickets in five Ranji Trophy games in 2022-23, smashed an unbeaten 122 off 86 balls in the Duleep Trophy next year, and then toured South Africa with the India A side in 2023-24.
Despite the lack of experience, it's his promise that got 22-year-old a Test spot ahead of Mukesh Kumar and Navdeep Saini, who are in the reserves. He was called up for the T20Is against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh but is yet to make his international debut.
Rana was part of the India Test squad for the New Zealand series initially as a reserve, before turning out for Delhi in the third round of the Ranji Trophy where he started with three early wickets against Assam on Saturday morning.