The Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 is underway, and we have a massive surprise at the toss with Washington Sundar starting for India as the lone spinner in Perth's Optus Stadium.
This means that India will head into the series opener without their main two spinners for years, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in their lineup while Sundar has played a solitary Test in Australia in the famous Gabba win in 2021.
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India's preference for Sundar is logical as the off-spinner's height and high release, top spin will help him get some extra purchase on the bouncy and pacy Perth track
While a Test playing XI without either of the spin twins is something Indian fans are not used to seeing, The Sporting News looks at the last time both Ashwin and Jadeja were not part of India's starting XI in Tests.
When did India last play a Test match without either Ashwin or Jadeja?
The last time India played a Test match without Ashwin and Jadeja in the playing XI was during the famous Gabba Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in January 2021.
With India heading into a transition, it is not very usual to see these two out of the lineups. The last time neither of them featured for India in a Test was in the famous Gabba Test in January 2021 when Jadeja missed the match with a fractured thumb and Ashwin missed it with back issues.
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This was the same Test when Sundar made his Test debut and contributed with both bat and ball in the famous win at Australia's fortress at Brisbane, Gabba, picking up 4 wickets in the game with the ball and a fifty with the bat in a crucial partnership with Shardul Thakur.
Since the Gabba Test, India has played 39 Tests and either Ashwin or Jadeja have played all the games before getting benched for Sundar in the first Test of the BGT 2024/25 at Perth.
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