India vs Australia: The historic test victory of India in Australia was clearly a stuff of dreams for many, especially for the Indian Cricket Team. With almost a playing XI injured for India. India bounced back in the most brilliant fashion and clinched the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Team India clearly made many records during this generational defying series win and one of those records was the number of debutants in this series which was five. Injuries were so immense that India played with 20 members of the squad which has never happened before.
Notably, the only two-player who played in all 4 test matches against Australia was Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane.
So, we will be looking at those stats from the debutants in this India vs Australia Test Series.
Shubman Gill
The 21-year-old came in the place of out of form opener Prithvi Shaw in Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Gill very swiftly and graciously took the opportunity by both hands. The opener since then played 6 innings in the 3 test matches and scored 259 runs with an average of 51.80. His highest score came in the second innings of the 4th Test at GABA where Gill played brilliant 91 run innings. This was his 2nd half-century of the series after the first one at Sydney Cricket Ground.
Mohammed Siraj
He was the second debutant at the MCG Boxing Day Test with Gill. Siraj replaced Mohammed Shami whose tour ended with a fractured hand sustained in Adelaide.
Siraj bagged 13 wickets in 6 innings vs Australia. He is the highest wicket-taker on the Indian side. He spent 384 runs with an average of 29.53 and an economy of 2.85. Mohammed Siraj had a memorable performance at the second innings in Gaba as he claimed his maiden five-wicket haul and a first by an Indian in the series.
Navdeep Saini
Saini made his debut at the Sydney Cricket Ground as Umesh Yadav’s tour ended due to a calf strain. Saini bowled in 4 innings in 2 matches and claimed 4 wickets with an economy of 4.11.
T Natrajan
Natrajan made his debut at the last match at GABA, Brisbane. Natrajan made his debut in all playing formats in this Australian Tour. Natrajan came in the place of Ashwin in the Indian bowling attack. Natrajan at Brisbane grabbed 3 wickets with an economy of 3.10
Washington Sundar
Along Natrajan, all-rounder Washington Sundar also made his debut at Brisbane. He came in the place of Jadeja in the playing XI and played his role very well. He scored 84 runs and 62 of that came in the crucial partnership with Thakur in the first inning when India needed them the most. With Bowl in hand, Sundar bagged 4 wickets in the match and consistently created a nuisance for Aussie Batsman.
The introduction of five debutants in one series is a repeat of 25 years when in 1996 tour of England, India handed a debut to six players. Those six players were Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Paras Mhambrey, Vikram Rathour, Venkatesh Prasad, and Sunil Joshi.
