4 players who missed out on India's Test squad for Australia tour

The BCCI announced the squad for the Test series against Australia which begins next month.

Most of the usual players made the team as Virat Kohli will continue to captain the side while Ajinkya Rahane will be his deputy.

Murali Vijay, who had a disastrous outing against England, makes a comeback to the squad after a good outing with the bat for Essex. Rohit Sharma makes a much-awaited return to the Test squad as well. He was not a part of the side which travelled to England a few months ago.

On the other hand, Dinesh Karthik has been dropped and in his place, Parthiv Patel has been included. Youngster Prithvi Shaw makes the squad as well.

India Test squad for Australia Tour - Virat Kohli(c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Parthiv Patel, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Md Shami, Ishant, Umesh Yadav, Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

There were a few surprise exclusions from the squad, however, and hence, let's take a look at the 5 players who missed out from the squad:

#4 Mohammed Siraj

The 24-year-old pacer was included in the Test squad for the series against Windies but did not get to play.

He has been in sensational form over the past year or so for Hyderabad in the domestic circuit. He has been incredible for India A as well and was the leading wicket-taker in the series against Australia A. He picked up 11 wickets in the Test held in Bengaluru.

He has been picking up wickets for fun and has been troubling the batsmen with his pace and bounce. However, the selectors decided against picking him and went with Umesh Yadav instead.

We could surely expect Siraj to make his debut for the Indian Test side soon.

#3 Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik

The 33-year-old veteran keeps finding himself in and out of the Indian cricket team on countless occasions. He was a part of the playing XI of the Indian side for the first two Tests against England held at Edgbaston and Lord's, however, due to his poor performances with the bat, was dropped for the final three Tests.

Since then, he was included in India's side for the Asia Cup, where he played a decent part in their success, with a few 30s here and there.

He is currently captaining the India A side in the Deodhar Trophy and has been quite good with the bat as he scored 99 in the first match of the tournament, in a losing cause though.

He would have hoped to have gotten selected in the squad for the Australia tour, but the selectors decided to go with Parthiv Patel instead. Karthik will now play for Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy.

#2 Karun Nair

Karun Nair

The 26-year-old batsman from Karnataka would be wondering what he did wrong to get himself removed from the Test squad. He was a part of the squad which toured England but did not play a single game and after that, did not find himself in reckoning for the Tests against West Indies.

Ever since he made his triple century against England late in 2016 in India, Nair has been in and out of the team and not got many chances to cement his place.

He would feel extremely unlucky with the selectors choice to not choose him for the tour to Australia. He will look to make a mark for himself in the upcoming Ranji Trophy and prove a point to the selectors as well.

We could surely expect to see him back in the national side soon and scoring lots of runs as well.

#1 Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal

More than Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal would be even more surprised with his non-selection in the side. He must be wondering as to what more he needs to do in order to make his debut for the Indian cricket team.

Just like Siraj, he too was a part of the Test squad for the series against the Windies, but did not get to play a single match.

He has broken numerous records over the past couple of years in the domestic circuit, scoring plenty of runs for Karnataka especially in the Ranji Trophy. He performed exceptionally well for the India A side too.

He has been scoring many centuries in the longer format of the game at the first-class level and will be hoping to do the same for the national team as well. However, he will have to wait till the selectors decide to give him a chance.