All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy is likely to get his maiden Test cap for the first Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy starting in Perth from Friday as the Indian team management is likely to play him as fourth seamer. Perth’s Optus Stadium is expected to have bounce and carry and Reddy could be the right fit to shore up the fast bowling department.

Jasprit Bumrah, the vice-captain, set to lead the team in Rohit Sharma’s absence, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Aakash Deep and Prasidh Krishna are the fast bowlers in the squad. Mohammed Shami, who made a comeback in Ranji Trophy after an ankle injury, is not part of the squad.

With Hardik Pandya not in the Test squad, Reddy is the only pace-bowling all-rounder in the team for the five-match Test series.

Shardul Thakur, who had featured in India’s previous tour of Australia has fallen down the pecking order.

During the pre-departure press conference, coach Gambhir said: “The decision to pick Reddy ahead of Shardul is also about moving forward. I think we’ve picked the best squad who can do the job for us. We all know how incredibly talented Nitish Reddy is and if given an option, he will deliver for us.”

The Andhra Pradesh batting-all-rounder has played 21 first-class games and has hit one century, two fifties and taken 56 wickets. He also impressed while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad during the IPL.