WATCH: Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat get Maiden Test Caps From Ravi Shastri and Cheteshwar Pujara

IND vs AUS 1st Test: Team India handed debuts to Suryakumar Yadav and KS Bharat in first Test vs Australia in Nagpur.

Source: Twitter

Team India handed maiden Test caps to world No. 1 T20 batter Suryakumar Yadav and wicketkeeper KS Bharat in the first Test against Australia in Nagpur on Thursday (February 9). Former India head coach Ravi Shastri was the one to hand over the Test cap to SKY.

Australia skipper Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to bat first against India in the opening Test of the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series here on Thursday.

Shastri handed his India Test cap to Yadav while Cheteshwar Pujara gave it to Bharat at the VCA Stadium in the presence of teammates and the families of both players. KS Bharat’s selection as a replacement for the injured Rishabh Pant ahead of Ishan Kishan was expected as Kishan is a top-order batsman while India needed to bolster their part of their batting lineup in the absence of Pant.

WATCH Suryakumar Yadav and KS Bharat get their Test caps here…

SKY makes his TEST DEBUT as he receives the Test cap from former Head Coach @RaviShastriOfc _ _

Good luck @surya_14kumar _ _#TeamIndia | #INDvAUS | @mastercardindia pic.twitter.com/JVRyK0Vh4u

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 9, 2023

Debut in international cricket for @KonaBharat _ _

A special moment for him as he receives his Test cap from @cheteshwar1 _ _#TeamIndia | #INDvAUS | @mastercardindia pic.twitter.com/dRxQy8IRvZ

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 9, 2023

Suryakumar also adds more meat to the middle order as he has been in great form in the last couple of years and has played Ranji Trophy cricket for more than five-six years. At 32 years and 148 days, Yadav is the 15th oldest player to make his debut for India.

Australia also handed a maiden cap to off-spinner Todd Murphy and he was given his cap by fellow-spinner Nathan Lyon. They made two changes to the squad, bringing in Scott Boland for Josh Hazlewood and dropping Travis Head for odd Murphy.

India vs Australia Playing XI

India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.

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