India opted to bat first in the opening Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 at the Optus Stadium in Perth on Friday. The Jasprit Bumrah-led Indian side introduced two new faces in the playing XI - Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana. (Match Blog | Streaming)
The 21-year-old Reddy has impressed many with his flaunting big hits and medium-pace bowling in the limited-over cricket. His last year's IPL stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad was a path-breaking for him which also earned him the IPL Emerging Player 2024 award. He made 303 runs in 11 innings with an average of 36 and a strike rate of 142. He also took three wickets while bowling.
Known for his pinch-hitting, Reddy recently made his T20I debut for India against Bangladesh and made 90 runs in three matches with the highest score of 74 runs in the second T20I.
Andhra's all-rounder first gained attention during the 2017-18 Vijay Merchant Trophy when he scored a triple century for Andhra, followed by an impressive 441 runs off 345 balls against Nagaland. His total of 1,237 runs, at an average of 176.41, remains the highest in the tournament's history. This outstanding performance earned him the BCCI's award for the best Under-16 cricketer that season.
Indian team management has shown great faith in his bowling and he is going to play a big role in India's win in Australia. Similar is the case for Harshit Rana as well.
After performing well in the IPL 2024 and Duleep Trophy, Harshit Rana has been travelling with the senior men's cricket team on many tours and home series but he did not get any opportunity to make his debut. He is well-known for his hard-hitting lengths and picking him above Prasidh Krishna and Akash Deep shows team management's belief in him.
Washington Sundar and Dhruv Jurel were also given preference over the veterans Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin in the playing XI at Perth.
