Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25: Why Axar Patel isn't selected in India test squad?

Axar Patel has played 14 test matches so far since making his debut in 2021.

On Friday, 25th October 2024, the BCCI announced India’s 18-man squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 series that will kick off on November 22 in Perth. For the first time since the 1991/92 series, India and Australia will compete in a five-match test series.

India are the current holders of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy; they have won the last four test series against Australia, including twice away, and would be looking to make it a hat-trick of series win in Australia on their upcoming tour.

Among the players who are not selected for the Australia test series, one big name is Axar Patel. Axar made his test debut in 2021 and so far has featured in 14 games. He’s done superbly as an all-rounder: Axar averages 35 with the bat and 19 with the ball in test cricket. Yet, the southpaw didn’t find a place in the squad to tour Australia.

Why is Axar Patel not selected in India’s test squad for the Australia series?

Since India have picked three spinning all-rounders in R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, the selectors omitted Axar, who has, instead, been named in the T20I squad to tour South Africa for four matches.

All of Axar’s 14 test matches have come in Asia – 12 in India and two in Bangladesh. And with Jadeja being the first-choice left-arm spinning all-rounder, Axar wasn’t going to get a game in Australia, where India won’t play more than two spinners in the XI; in fact, they could even go with only one spinner in the side as they have done in England on their previous trip.

Axar Patel was part of the test squads that faced Bangladesh and New Zealand in the home series, but didn’t get to play in any of the four tests so far.

Patel returns to the T20I setup after being rested from the T20Is against Bangladesh.

India squad for the test tour of Australia:

Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar

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