IND vs AUS: Wasim Jaffer names his India playing XI for 1st Test, leaves out star batsman

India and Australia are all set to lock horns against each other in a four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy (Test series) starting February 9. Ahead of the highly-anticipated encounter, former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer shared his playing XI for the Rohit Sharma-led side. Jaffer picked KL Rahul to open for India and pushed Shubman Gill down to the No. 5 position in the batting order. Notably, Jaffer left Suryakumar Yadav out of his playing XI despite the batsman being in tremendous form for the past several months.  

Jaffer's India XI for First Test vs Australia

1. Rohit Sharma (c)
2. KL Rahul
3. Cheteshwar Pujara
4. Virat Kohli
5. Shubman Gill
6. KS Bharat (wk)
7. Ravindra Jadeja
8. R. Ashwin
9. Kuldeep Yadav
10. Mohammed Shami
11. Mohammed Siraj

Meanwhile, Jaffer also left Axar Patel out of his India playing XI in favour of Kuldeep Yadav. Jaffer explained that he had to leave out Axar because of the variety Kuldeep brings as a wrist spinner. The first Test match of the series will be played in Nagpur, followed by Delhi, Dharamsala, and Ahmedabad. According to Australian batsman Steve Smith, one side of the pitch in Nagpur is dry and will assist spinners a lot. 

Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Full squads

India’s Test squad for the first two Tests against Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.

Australia's squad for the Test series against India: Pat Cummins (Captain), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.

Image: AP