India have pulled a massive selection bombshell with spin twins Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja dropped for the first Test of their tour of Australia at Perth Stadium.

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It is a massive call with the pair boasting 182 Tests between them, with plenty of experience in tours of Australia in the past.

India will instead roll with all-rounder Washington Sundar, an off-spinner who is all class with the bat, with Kerry O’Keefe predicting he may bat up the order in the first Test.

Fox Cricket’s Michael Hussey led the chorus of surprise from cricket pundits and fans alike.

“It is a bit of a surprise if I’m being honest. I thought one of them might play, definitely,” Hussey said.

“You see how important Nathan Lyon is for Australia. Nathan Lyon has actually got the most wickets out of the Australian bowlers here in Perth, so he’s the key man for Australia and what that does is allows the captain to rotate the fast bowlers around from the other end.”

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Ashwin is the second most prolific Indian Test bowler ever with 536 wickets, behind only Anil Kumble (619), while Jadeja is 5th with 319 wickets from 77 matches.

Spinners historically ienjoy the extra bounce in Perth, especially late in the game, but touring teams have gone with four pace bowlers at times with varying degrees of success.

Hussey believes India may have been forced into a late change of mind by the amount of grass on the Perth pitch on day one.

“The Indians have obviously looked at the pitch, seen plenty of grass on it,” Hussey said.

“Traditionally it’s very fast and bouncy here as well, so they thought maybe the spinner is maybe not going to play as much of a role and they’re going to go in a different direction.”

The shock call is made even more perplexing given Jadeja and Ashwin are more than handy lower order batters.

Aswhin has 3,474 runs at an average of 25.92, including six centuries, 14 50s and a highest score of 124 at Test level, while Jadeja has blasted 3,235 runs at an average of 35.16, with four centuries and 21 half centuries and a highest score of 175 not out.

“It is a surprise because Ashwin and Jadeja can help out with the bat as well,” Hussey said.

“But I’m sure whatever Indian team they put on the park will show plenty of fight.”

In a losing side during India’s series in NZ, Washington averaged 44 with the bat and took 16 wickets across two Test matches.

Sundar has scored 354 runs at an average of 59.00 with three half centuries and a top score of 96 not out in his six Tests to date.

With the ball he has 22 wickets at an average of 23.86, with two five wicket-hauls and best figures of 7 for 59.

TEAMS

Australia: Nathan McSweeney (debut), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

India: Yashsavi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy (debut), Jasprit Bumrah (c), Harshit Rana (debut), Mohammed Siraj