Team India has landed in Australia for the much-awaited Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The upcoming series wil be one of the biggest challenges for India. The Gautam Gambhir-coached side was shockingly whitewashed by New Zealand 0-3 in the home series and few changes can be made in the team and the team management if the results don't go in India's favour.
The first Test of the five-match series will be played in Perth from November 22 to 26. There will be a long gap between the first and second Test as the next fixture is scheduled to be played from December 6 to 10. But the Indian players won't have enough rest.
The second Test will be a day/night game and will be played with Pink balls. India will prepare for the challenge by facing the Prime Minister's XI team. The two-day fixture will kick off on November 30. Australia's PM Anthony Albanese is likely to be in attendance during the fixture.
It will be after 20 years that India will face the Prime Minister's XI team. Back in 2004, Rahul Dravid-led India faced the Prime Minister's XI team, led by Steve Waugh. The PM XI team is unlikely to include any capped player.
Rohit Sharma is likely to be available for the practice game. The India captain is doubtful to feature in the series opener due to personal reasons. He hasn't travelled with the team to Australia. There is no official word on Rohit's unavailability yet.
"Obviously there is Easwaran there, there is KL there. So we will take a call closer to the first Test match if Rohit is not available. There are options there. It's not that there are no options, there are quite a lot of options in the squad. So once it gets closer to the first Test match, we'll try and play the best playing XI who is going to do the job for us," Gambhir said before departing for Australia.
Jasprit Bumrah will lead India in Test match for the second time in his career if Rohit misses the series opener. Bumrah made his captaincy debut against England in 2022.