IND vs AUS: Harbhajan Singh announces his playing XI, omits India's vice-captain from team

Former spinner Harbhajan Singh on Wednesday revealed his India's possible playing XI for the upcoming first Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. Harbhajan took to his official Twitter handle to reveal his predicted XI, in which he has left out India's vice-captain KL Rahul and has included Shubman Gill in his place. Earlier, the 42-year-old went had said that he would play Suryakumar Yadav at the No. 5 position because of the batsman's ability to play spin well. 

Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel that Suryakumar Yadav is the best option for the No. 5 spot. He noted that Suryakumar is particularly strong against spin bowlers and has a sweep shot that works well. However, he also pointed out that KL Rahul is a quality batsman but mentioned that Shubman Gill should be given a chance to play. He emphasized that the team should always be the first priority and individual performances come after.

Harbhajan Singh's predicted India XI

1. Rohit Sharma (C)
2. Shubman Gill
3. Cheteshwar Pujara
4. Virat Kohli
5. Suryakumar Yadav
6. Ravindra Jadeja
7. KS Bharat (wk)
8. Axar Patel
9. Ravichandran Ashwin
10. Mohammed Shami
11. Mohammed Siraj

My Team india 11 for the first
Test
1- Rohit
2-Gill
3-Pujara
4-Virat
5-Surya
6- Jadeja
7-Bharat
8-Ashwin
9-Axar
10- Shami
11- Siraj #INDvsAUS 🏏 what are ur thoughts guys ?

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) February 8, 2023

Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Full squads

India's squad (first two Tests): Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat, Ishan Kishan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.

Australia's squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.

FIXTURES

1st Test, Nagpur: February 9-13 - 9:30 pm IST
2nd Test, Delhi: February 17-21 - 9:30 pm IST
3rd Test, Dharamsala: March 1-5 - 9:30 pm IST
4th Test, Ahmedabad: March 9-13 - 9:30 pm IST

Image: AP/Twitter/BCCI