Team India, burdened by the crushing defeat at the hands of New Zealand, has left for Australia with new hopes. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia is starting from 22nd November, the first match of which will be played in Perth. Team India was selected for this series only last month, but questions have been raised regarding the selection of some players. One such question was raised for the first time regarding a selection when coach Gautam Gambhir came in front of the media. This player was Shardul Thakur, who played an important role in winning the Brisbane Test on the last Australia tour. Shardul did not get a place in Team India this time and coach Gambhir also gave the reason for this.
Shardul played a big role in Gaba
On Monday, 11 November, before the departure of the second batch of Team India for Australia, Coach Gambhir’s press conference was held. This was the first time after the crushing 0-3 defeat to New Zealand that the coach had come in front of serious media, in such a situation most of the questions were regarding the recent performance of the team and the form of the players. Then a question arose regarding Shardul Thakur not being selected. Shardul Thakur played a big role in winning the Brisbane Test in the 2020-21 Australia tour. Shardul had scored 67 runs in the first innings of that match, while taking 7 wickets in the entire match.
Gambhir told why he was not selected
Shardul is also included among the stars of the previous series including Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane who were not selected this time. Young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has been chosen in his place, who has not yet made his Test debut. In such a situation, when Gambhir was asked in the press conference about not selecting Shardul, the Indian coach clearly said that now is the time to move forward. Gambhir said that only the best players have been selected for this series and it is important to move forward. Praising Nitish Kumar Reddy, Gambhir said that he is very talented and can make important contribution to Team India if given a chance.
How is Reddy’s performance?
Talking about Reddy, this 21 year old medium pace all-rounder has played 23 first class matches so far, in which he has scored only 779 runs at an average of 21, while taking 56 wickets at an average of around 27. To prepare for this series, Reddy was already sent to Australia with India A, where he played 2 unofficial test matches against Australia A. However, his performance here was not special and he could score only 71 runs in 4 innings while taking only 1 wicket. Despite this, there is a possibility of his debut during this series, especially in Perth.