India received a boost in the form of Mayank Agarwal and Hardik Pandya as BCCI announced the squad, on Monday, for the 3rd and 4th Test match against Australia. Earlier Prithvi Shaw was ruled of the remainder of the Test series due to failure to recover from the left-ankle injury he received during the tour match against Cricket Australia XI in Sydney.

The openers – Murali Vijay and KL Rahul – were given a long rope to prove themselves after a couple of failures in the first two Tests. However, with the addition of Mayank Agarwal, the sword of being left out from the playing XI would still be looming over the duo. Prithvi Shaw Ruled Out of 2018–19 Test Series Against Australia, Mayank Agarwal Called In As Replacement.

Hardik Pandya played a game in the Indian domestic circuit, against Mumbai, and was drafted back in the squad after proving his fitness to the selectors. Parthiv Patel continued to be the second choice wicketkeeper in the team.

India’s Squad for 3rd & 4th Test against Australia: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Parthiv Patel, Ravichandra Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, and Mayank Agarwal.

India are one-up in the 4-match Test series at the moment. However, given how things are proceeding in the second Test match, it is highly likely that the series’ scoreline would be 1-1. Stay tuned with us for all the latest updates about India vs Australia Test Series 2018-19!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 17, 2018 07:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).