According to reports, Nitish and Shardul are seam bowling all-round options in the side as Hardik Pandya is out of favour in the red-ball format. Interestingly, Nitish only made his debut for India in the T20I format earlier this month while Shardul has not played for India since the 2023 Boxing Day Test against South Africa in Centurion. Shardul, Nitish in contention for BGT? According to reports, the selection panel led by Ajit Agarkar is considering picking a bowling all-rounder in the side as they look to challenge Australia on their turf. Shardul has played for India in high-profile away tours including England, West Indies and South Africa. He has played in 11 Test matches for India with only being played on Indian soil. During this period he has scalped 31 wickets and scored 331 runs and has been a productive asset for Rohit Sharma's side. On the other hand, Nitish has been in great form in the last few months and is one of the players on SunRisers Hyderabad's (SRH) retention list. He played a key role in SRH's run to the final of the IPL 2024 before they lost to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).   The Indian team has been victorious in the last two visits to Australia and also won the Boxing Day Test in 2020. Rohit Sharma's men will look to repeat the heroics as they look to take a giant step towards the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord's. Border-Gavaskar Trophy (India tour of Australia) Schedule 1st Test: 22nd November to 26th November, Perth 2nd Test: 6th December to 10th December, Adelaide 3rd Test: 14th December to 18th December, Brisbane 4th Test: 26th December to 30th December, Melbourne 5th Test: 3rd January to 7th January, Sydney