Big reshuffle in Indian team, this player replaced Ashwin

New Delhi: The Indian team is currently on an Australian tour, where it is playing a five-match Test series against the host team under the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25. This Test series between the two teams is currently tied at 1-1. Now the fourth match of the Test series is to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) from December 26 (Thursday).

Big news related to the Indian team is coming out before the Melbourne Test. Mumbai all-rounder Tanush Kotian has been included in the Indian team for the remaining two Test matches of this series. 26-year-old Tanush bowls right-arm off-spin. He is also a good batsman. Tanush has replaced Ravichandran Ashwin. Ashwin had said goodbye to international cricket after the Gabba Test.

Tanush Kotian made his first class debut in the 2018-19 Ranji season. Kotian has so far taken 101 wickets in 33 first class matches at an average of 25.70. During this, he took five wickets in an innings on 3 occasions. Talking about batting, he has scored 1525 runs at an average of 41.21. Kotian has scored 2 centuries and 13 half-centuries in first class cricket.

Tanush Kotian has also played 20 List-A and 33 T20 matches. Kotian has 20 wickets in List-A matches at an average of 43.60. At the same time, in T20 matches, he has taken 33 wickets at an average of 20.03. Tanush Kotian has scored 90 runs in List-A matches and 87 runs in T20 matches.

In the Ranji Trophy 2023-24 season, Tanush along with Tushar Deshpande created a mega record. In the quarter-final match against Baroda, Tanush Kotian (120*) and Tushar Deshpande (123) scored centuries at number 10 and number 11 positions. For the first time in the Ranji Trophy, number-10 and number-11 batsmen scored centuries.

Tanush Kotian was born and brought up in Mumbai. However, his family roots are in coastal Karnataka. Tanush Kotian’s father Karunakar and mother Mallika Kotian belong to Pangala in Udupi district. Tanush Kotian not only plays domestic cricket for Mumbai, but he has also played for India’s Under-19 team. He was also part of the team on India-A’s recent Australia tour. Tanush Kotian also played a match for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2024. Tanush remained unsold in the mega auction of IPL 2025.

Indian team squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Tanush Kotian.

Australian team: Pat Cummins (captain), Travis Head (vice-captain), Steve Smith (vice-captain), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Constas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhae Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.