India handed Test debuts to Tamil Nadu pair, Washington Sundar and Thangarasu Natarajan, as they take on Australia in the fourth and final match of the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series at the Gabba, Brisbane.
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Bowling coach Bharat Arun handed Natarajan the cap, while senior spinner Ravichandran Ashwin did the honours to Washington Sundar.
Watch it here:
It meant that India are without the services of experienced bowlers -- Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah -- and also last match's batting hero Hanuma Vihari.
Natarajan thus became the first Indian left-arm seamer to feature in a Test for India since Zaheer Khan at Wellington against New Zealand in 2013-14.
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Interestingly, the Indian bowling attack has a collective experience of nine Test matches with Mohammed Siraj, who made his debut two matches earlier, leading the charge.
India have made four changes, including the two debutants, with Shardul Thakur and Mayank Agarwal making the XI too.
Australia had already announced their XI on the eve of the match.
Here's are the playing XIs:
Australia: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Matthew Wade, Cameron Green, Tim Paine (c & wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.
India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Mayank Agarwal, Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, T Natarajan.
