There couldn’t have been a better start to 2023 than a four-match Test series between India and Australia beginning in the sixth week of the year. The arch-rivals, who have registered numerous mouth-watering Test matches against each other in the last decade or so, will fight it out in a series which will potentially decide the participants of ICC World Test Championship 2021-23.
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Australia had made the first move with respect to announcing an 18-member squad three weeks ago. Not too far behind the opponents, India had announced a 17-member squad a couple of days later.
With less than a week remaining for the first ball to be bowled in the series, both the teams will have to adapt to the presence of injured players in their squads. As a result, fans will not get to see first-choice Playing XIs for the first Test beginning on February 9.
Notwithstanding the absence of injured cricketers, both India and Australia are still superpowers enough in this format to dominate each other across facets and register a nerve-wracking series set to be played within four-and-a-half-weeks.
For anyone wondering, yep the coffee arrived! ☕️😂 pic.twitter.com/m1O2ED9zCG
— Marnus Labuschagne (@marnus3cricket) February 1, 2023
The series will also witness the comeback of India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. A certainty to feature in the Indian Playing XI, Jadeja had aggravated a knee injury after his unfortunate involvement in a freak accident.
India vs Australia Test squad 2023 players list
India (first two Tests) – Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.
Australia – Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.
NOTE: Shreyas Iyer and Mitchell Starc have been ruled out of the first Test in Nagpur due to respective injuries.
