The day has arrived, and so have the Indian and Australian teams, as the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is set to begin at Optus Stadium in Perth. With Rohit Sharma unavailable for the first Test, it’s Jasprit Bumrah’s day to lead the team. Bumrah will aim to make his mark in his second Test match as captain. As predicted, India made some changes, with two debutants, Nitish Reddy and Harshit Rana are set to thrive. However, the big news is that India’s top-order star Shubman Gill is not in the mix. So, what is the reason behind his exclusion from this first Test against Australia?
Why Shubman Gill is not playing
Gill, who sustained the injury during an intra-squad match, was barely able to participate in India’s practice session on Wednesday. He is now out of the Perth Test. However, there are chances that Gill will return to action in the second Test. Unfortunately, Shubman Gill’s injury has paved the way for Devdutt Padikkal to play in the no. 3 spot. The talented left-hander from Karnataka, who was already in Australia with the India A team, is now set to potentially bat at number three in the first Test against Australia at Optus Stadium in Perth. Padikkal made his Test debut earlier this year against England in Dharamsala and is now all set for some big months against Australia.
Shubman Gill’s Stats vs Australia in Tests
| Year | Innings | Runs | Balls | Outs | Avg | SR | HS | 50 | 100 | 4s | 6s | Dot % |
| 2020 | 2 | 80 | 101 | 1 | 80 | 79.2 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 71.3 |
| 2021 | 4 | 179 | 326 | 4 | 44.8 | 54.9 | 91 | 2 | 0 | 21 | 2 | 75.2 |
| 2023 | 5 | 185 | 303 | 5 | 37 | 61.1 | 128 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 1 | 66 |
| Total | 11 | 444 | 730 | 10 | 44.4 | 60.8 | 128 | 2 | 1 | 55 | 3 | 70.8 |
IND vs AUS playing XI
| Australia | India |
| 1. Usman Khawaja | 1. KL Rahul (wicketkeeper batter) |
| 2. Nathan McSweeney | 2. Yashasvi Jaiswal (opening batter) |
| 3. Marnus Labuschagne | 3. Devdutt Padikkal (top-order batter) |
| 4. Steven Smith | 4. Virat Kohli (top-order batter) |
| 5. Travis Head | 5. Rishabh Pant † (wicketkeeper batter) |
| 6. Mitchell Marsh | 6. Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper batter) |
| 7. Alex Carey † | 7. Washington Sundar (bowling allrounder) |
| 8. Pat Cummins (c) | 8. Nitish Kumar Reddy (batting allrounder) |
| 9. Mitchell Starc | 9. Harshit Rana (bowler) |
| 10. Nathan Lyon | 10. Jasprit Bumrah (c) (bowler) |
| 11. Josh Hazlewood | 11. Mohammed Siraj (bowler) |
