Rishabh Pant last played a Test match in December 2022 before a serious car crash saw him sidelined for nearly two years.
Sacked Sarfaraz Ahmed had the chance to make a graceful exit as PCB had advised him to step down as captain in all three formats but the wicketkeeper-batsman turned down the suggestion.
Out-of-form skipper Rohit Sharma's batting position will be in focus against a dangerous Australia
India head coach Gautam Gambhir threw his weight behind under-fire batter K L Rahul ahead of the second Test against New Zealand, starting in Pune from Thursday.
Afridi while talking to the media in Karachi, said Sarfaraz is not the perfect choice for red ball format.
As many as four world-class match-winners are expected to bid adieu to the game one by one in the next couple of years and Gautam Gambhir is in an unenviable position as head coach.
Rahul will come in place of Baba Indrajith, who scored 9 and 6 and didn't look comfortable at all against pace and bounce, which wasn't exactly 125 clicks.
'There will be a lot of spice to the contest -- there is a reason India is the only team other than England against whom Australia is keen to play a five Test series.' 'I'll watch, as I suspect most fans will -- but this one time, I'll watch with considerable trepidation and, from a fan's point of view, with the hope that the team finds its feet and that right quick,' notes the distinguished cricket commentator Prem Panicker.
Rohit and the team management will also have to keep some of the young talents like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel wrapped in cotton wool after experiencing some early success in top-flight cricket.
The likes of Yashaswi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sarfaraz Khan, Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana, Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna are on their maiden Test tour of Australia.
Images from Day 2 of the 3rd Test played between India and New Zealand, in Mumbai, on Saturday.
With the series locked at 1-1, Brisbane could well decide the course of the rubber and whether Rohit's men would continue to be the master of their fate in the ongoing World Test Championship.
Shreyas Iyer would be aiming to revive his start-stop international career, while Ishan Kishan would aim to clear the popular perception about his allegedly 'misplaced priorities'.
IMAGES from Day 3 of the third Test between India and New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday
While the pace department needs some urgent solutions, the spin has a slightly different landscape.
Who do you think should be part of India's playing XI for the first Test against Australia in Perth?
The source, however, disputed Fakhar's tone and said one of the newly inducted selectors, former captain Azhar Ali had spoken to length with Babar on Saturday and explained to him the decision to rest him for the two Tests.
The biggest positives with the bat in Perth were Virat Kohli regaining his rhythm and Jaiswal's coming of age hundred in his debut Test in Australia. Both will look to build on those significant gains in Adelaide.
The left-arm wrist spinner, who grabbed three Kiwi wickets, patted Rachin Ravindra for making a splendid hundred.
Former spinner Saqlain Mushtaq was named interim head coach following the resignation of Misbah ul-Haq.
They'll wait to make a call with him up until the morning of the Test match, said India's bowling coach Morne Morkel.
Former Australian skipper Aaron Finch said that Alex Carey and Rishabh Pant, two left-handed wicketkeeper-batters will be extremely important for their respective sides during the highly-anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India.
India's batting is a major concern with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli struggling for runs ahead of the tour of Australia.
The national selectors on Sunday retained the Indian team, which hammered Bangladesh by 280 runs in the opening Test here, for the second and final match in Kanpur.
The Duleep Trophy is set to return to its traditional zonal from next year after the state units gave a thumbs down to the four-team concept introduced this season.
Pakistan have dropped plans to conduct "major surgery" on the national team as it included senior players Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi in the Test squad for the two-match series against Bangladesh.
'It's one thing to talk about it, but actually we went out there (in Bengaluru) and played some fearless cricket.'
New Zealand can become only the second team to inflict a series whitewash on India in their backyard.
India arrived in Bengaluru seeking a big win over the 2021 champions to improve their chances of making a third successive final in June 2025, but will now need to battle to keep alive their run of 18 straight home series victories since 2012.
Kharge alleged that Dhankhar is working as a government spokesperson and acting like a school headmaster, often sermonising experienced opposition leaders and preventing them from speaking in the House.
Mitchell Santner played through the pain barrier as New Zealand secured their maiden series win in India going back to 1955 and the left-arm spinner said picking up wickets regularly in the second test had helped him persevere.
How the India Test regulars and discards fared over the first two days in the opening round matches of Duleep Trophy.
'The call-up from Rahul Dravid was the turning point for Sarfaraz.' 'I would like to thank Virat Kohli for the trust he has shown in Sarfaraz.'
Jasprit Bumrah emerged as the lone bright spot with a record haul of 32 wickets.
Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been included in the Test squad for the upcoming two-match series against Bangladesh.
Unprecedented series defeats against Sri Lanka and New Zealand have placed Gautam Gambhir under immense pressure barely three months into his appointment as the head coach of the Indian team.
Musheer became the youngest Mumbai batter to score a century in a Ranji Trophy final, surpassing Tendulkar's record.
'Obviously, he's a guy who has scored 9,000-plus Test runs, which is pretty mind-blowing, but for us it was a huge wicket.'
Pace spearhead Harshit Rana received a well-deserved maiden call-up, following his impressive performances.
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