Gautam Gambhir pushes 'favorite pacer' for Perth Test debut; India’s new No.3 revealed

India National Cricket Team head coach Gautam Gambhir and his coaching staff have already made some key decisions about playing XI for the first Test against the Australia National Cricket Team in Perth.

Gautam Gambhir & Co. have decided to hand the Test debut cap to the 22-year-old right-arm pacer Harshit Rana, who has played just 10 first-class matches in his career.

Also Read: Nitish Reddy finalized in India playing XI for Perth Test against Australia

Harshit Rana impressed Gautam Gambhir and other coaches in match simulation

According to the latest report in TOI, the young right-arm pacer Harshit Rana impressed everyone with his bowling performance in the match simulation.

Rana was particularly very impressive with his bouncers and now the team management has made the decision to hand him the Test cap in Perth.

"Harshit was very impressive in the match simulation at Perth, especially while bowling his bouncers. There's a good chance that he will make his India debut at Perth," a source told TOI.

Notably, he was selected as a net bowler for India's recent three-match home Test series against the New Zealand National Cricket Team. After that, he was directly slotted in India's Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 squad.

Harshit Rana has played less than 50 matches in his cricket career across First-class, List-A and T20 cricket, but did a great job for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their IPL 2024 winning campaign.

In 13 matches, he bagged 19 wickets at an average of 20.15, an economy of 9.08, and a strike rate of 13.3. Gautam Gambhir watched him from close quarters as he was the mentor of the franchise at that time.

Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill ruled out of Perth Test

India National Cricket Team skipper Rohit Sharma, as well as the star No.3 batsman Shubman Gill, will be missing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 opener.

Rohit Sharma will be unavailable because he has decided to stay in Mumbai for some more time with his wife after the birth of their second child while Shubman Gill has sustained an injury.

The Indian skipper & his family were blessed with a baby boy on November 15, and it was expected that he would fly to Australia for the Test series opener, but that won't be the case.

Shubman Gill, meanwhile, hurt his thumb while fielding in the slips during the match simulation. Later, the scans revealed a fracture, and he was declared unavailable for the first match.

Devdutt Padikkal to be India's No.3

With Rohit Sharma and Shumban Gill unavailable, the BCCI was forced to ask the talented batsman Devdutt Padikkal, who was touring with the India A squad for two four-day matches, to stay back with India's main squad as a batting back-up.

Padikkal is set to be added to the 18-man Test squad and will most likely be taking the No.3 position in the Perth Test. "He is likely to bat at the No. 3 spot now," a reliable source told TOI.

In the unofficial Test matches against Australia A, Devdutt Padikkal didn't deliver extraordinary performances and registered scores of of 36, 88, 26, and 1 for India A. However, his experience and familiarity with Australian conditions made the BCCI choose him over the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sai Sudharsan.