"Shami is a big loss": Australia head coach Andrew McDonald opens up on India's squad for BGT

Australia head coach Andrew McDonald reacted to India's squad for the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy and said that Mohammed Shami's absence will be a big loss for the Rohit Sharma-led side. Earlier on Friday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced their team for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) series against Australia next month and Shami was not included since the seamer is still recovering from the injury.

Following the end of the ODI World Cup 2023, the India pacer suffered an ankle injury, which forced him to stay away from the field since November last year. McDonald said that India will miss the combination of Jasprit Bumrah and Shami during the BGT. He added that India's reserved players shouldn't be underestimated.

"Mohammed Shami is a big loss. The way our batters speak about his relentless nature, his line and lengths, the way he goes about his business, a real good complimenting skill set to Bumrah so think that one-two combo they'll lack a little bit, and they'll miss that. But needless to say we saw what happened last time, they had reserves that came in and did the job as well so they cannot be underestimated at all," McDonald was quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying.

A lot of new faces have been included in the squad for the upcoming Test series which included players like Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana. The most awaited Border-Gavaskar series between India and Australia will begin on November 22, with the first Test at Perth. The second Test, scheduled for December 6 to 10 at Adelaide Oval, will feature the exciting day-night format under the stadium's lights. After that, fans will turn their attention to The Gabba in Brisbane for the third Test, which will be held from December 14 to 18.

The customary Boxing Day Test, set for December 26 to 30 at Melbourne's storied Melbourne Cricket Ground, will bring the series to its penultimate stage. The fifth and final Test, to take place at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 3 to 7, will serve as the series climax, promising a dramatic conclusion to an exciting contest.

India's squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy: 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, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. (ANI)