Australia opt to bat as India hand out Test debuts to Suryakumar and Bharat in opening match

Australia captain Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to bat in the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium here on Thursday.

India’s charismatic middle-order batter in T20I cricket Suryakumar Yadav made his Test debut along with wicket-keeper KS Bharat, with the Cummins-led Australia handing out the Baggy Green to spinner Todd Murphy.

Former India coach Ravi Shastri handed out the India caps, while Australia spinner and a member of the playing XI, Nathan Lyon presented the Baggy Green to Murphy.

In a first, the BCCI invited both Suryakumar and Bharat’s families to come inside the ground and watch the Test cap presentation ceremony.

Head coach Rahul Dravid congratulated and shook hands with the family members of both the India players.

It may be recalled that Bharat had donned the gloves for India in place of Wriddhiman Saha on day 3 of the first Test between India and New Zealand in Kanpur in 2021, after the Bengal gloveman had suffered a stiffness in his neck.

Teams: India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj.

Australia: Pat Cummins (c) David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy and Scott Boland.