After a comprehensive victory against Bangladesh in the one-off Test match played in Hyderabad, the chief selection committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced a 16 man squad under the captaincy of Virat Kohli. The series will commence from February 23 and the first match is scheduled to held at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune.
The Indian squad for the first two tests:
Virat Kohli (c), M Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, W Saha (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Karun Nair, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund and Hardik Pandya
Headed by the chief selector MSK Prasad, the selection committee met in BCCI office and it was assumed that they would announce the retention of the entire Hyderabad squad. At least for the first two Tests against Australia – in Pune from February 23 and in Bangalore from March 4. Speculations were also there with the name of Rohit for including him back in the squad but he didn’t get space in the team. While the selectors have not made any big changes.
Indian team for the first two Test matches of the four-match @Paytm Test series against Australia announced #INDvAUS
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 14, 2017
Team: Virat (Capt), Vijay, Rahul, Pujara, Rahane, Saha (wk), Ashwin, Jadeja, Ishant, Bhuvi, Umesh, Karun, Jayant, Kuldeep, Mukund & Pandya
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 14, 2017
The test side led by skipper Virat Kohli is riding high on confidence going into the last leg of the 13-Test home series. As the tally stands, India have won 8 out their 9home tests and are enjoying a 19 match unbeaten run in tests. Exhibiting a great team effort, team India has not lost a single Test in 2016 and has not experienced it yet.
Talking about the trump card from the captain’s deck, Ravichandran Ashwin is at the top. He became the quickest test bowler to 250 Test wickets recently concluded Bangladesh Test in Hyderabad. On the other hand, Australia have a poor record in India, having not won a Test here since 2004. Since 2008, the Kangaroos have lost seven consecutive Tests including a 4-0 whitewash in 2013 while they have lost their last nine consecutive Tests in Asia.
The fixture of the series is given as follows:
| Date | Fixture | Venue | Time |
| February 23-27 | India vs Australia 1st Test | Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune | 9:30 IST |
| March 4-8 | India vs Australia 2nd Test | M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru | 9:30 IST |
| March 16-20 | India vs Australia 3rd Test | JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi | 9:30 IST |
| March 25-29 | India vs Australia 4th Test | Himanchal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Bengaluru | 9:30 IST |
The Australian squad:
Australia squad: David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith(c), Peter Handscomb, Steve O’Keefe, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Jackson Bird, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Agar, Matthew Wade (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Mitchell Starc.
