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SPORTS NOVEMBER 22, 2024 | The Indian Eye 38

INDIA TEAM DOWN UNDER

Tryst with the Aussies:

how the toughest Test series has

shaped some new & young players

India’s Test debutants in Australia since 2000s – how they fared

and where are they now?

OUR BUREAU
Perth
he Australian soil has served
as a place where many Indi-
Tans have made their names in
cricket, be it Sachin Tendulkar, VVS
Laxman, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh
etc. This country has also served as a
starting place of many careers in Test
and international cricket as a whole
for several Indian stars.
With India putting faith in
some promising youngsters for the
Border-Gavaskar Trophy this time
around, it could very well mark a
starting point for players like Harshit
Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy (in Tests)
and Abhimanyu Easwaran. Their ex-
ploits in the Indian Premier League
(IPL) and domestic cricket earned
them a place in the squad and they
are just a few steps away from a po-
tential debut in international or Test
cricket.
Here is a look at some players who
started off their careers in Australia and
where they are now:
Irfan Pathan (2003)
The pace bowling all-rounder Shubman Gill playing a shot during a recent Test match against New Zealand at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai (ANI)
made his international debut with
the Test format in December 2003 at runs with a century and 21 fifties at outing in which he picked up a wick- of Mumbai Indians’ talent scouting
the age of just 19. His debut Test was an average of 26.12 and picking up et. He also played 31 ODIs and nine team in the Indian Premier League
an iconic win at Adelaide, thanks to a 301 wickets. He also won the ICC T20Is for India, picking up 48 wick- (IPL) and joined MI Emirates as the
game-changing double ton by Rahul T20 World Cup 2007 and ICC Cham- ets in them with his last Indian ap- bowling coach in 2022.
Dravid, who scored 233 and made pions Trophy 2013 with India. pearance coming in November 2013
72* in the second innings to chase Now, Pathan is making a living against Australia, as per Wisden. Karn Sharma (2014)
down 230 runs. India managed to for himself as a commentator and Vinay retired from first-class The spinner made his debut in
draw the series 1-1. cricket expert. cricket in 2020 after playing 139 Tests under Virat Kohli’s captaincy at
Pathan’s debut Test saw him matches and picking up 504 wickets, Adelaide in the 2014-15 series over
score just one run and take a wick- Vinay Kumar (2012) retiring as a Karnataka legend. He a more experienced Ravichandran
et for 160 runs across both innings. Vinay Kumar made his Test de- was also handy with the bat, scoring Ashwin. Karn took four wickets in
He played 173 matches across all for- but under MS Dhoni’s captaincy in over 3,300 first-class runs with two the match, with two in each innings,
mats for India till 2012, scoring 2,821 2012 at Perth. This was his only Test centuries. A year later, he was a part Continued on next page... >>

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