Team India are scheduled to play a three-match Test series at home against New Zealand before travelling to Australia for a five match Test series in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25.
India have decided to include players as travelling reserves in the home series against New Zealand. Pace bowling all-rounder, Nitish Kumar Ready, fast bowler Mayank Yadav and another pacer Harshit Rana are part of the travelling reserves.
In the pre-match press conference ahead of the start of the first Test match against New Zealand, captain Rohit Sharma talked about the reasons behind including these players in the travelling reserves.
Sharma said that they are looking to take these players to Australia and create a strong bench strength of pacers as they need 8 to 9 fast bowling options in Australia.
“We want to keep Mayank, Harshit & Nitish close because we are thinking of taking them to Australia, we want to create bench strength especially with fast bowlers. We have 8 or 9 options, not just 3 or 4. Like in batting, we want more options in bowling”. Rohit Sharma said at the press conference.
Rohit Sharma is planning to keep all his options open for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25
Australian conditions do require more fast bowlers and this time it will be a five-match Test series. So, India will need to have ample options of fast bowling in their bench besides their regular ones to survive the five Test matches and also win another Test series in Australia.
Moreover, they will need fast bowling all-rounders as well and this is where Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana come into the picture as they are very handy options with the bat.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 is set to be a landmark cricketing event, marking the first five-Test series between India and Australia since 1992.
This series, which is part of the 2023–2025 ICC World Test Championship, will unfold from November 2024 to January 2025, with matches scheduled across Australia’s major cricket venues.
