Fast bowler Mohammed Shami and left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav are notable absentees from India’s Test squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, which was announced on Saturday morning.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named an 18-man squad captained by Rohit Sharma for the five-match series, beginning at Perth’s Optus Stadium on November 22.

Shami, the Indian quick with 229 Test wickets at 27.71, is yet to regain full fitness after undergoing ankle surgery in February, while Yadav is not available due to a “chronic left groin issue”, said the BCCI.

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Sharma will miss one of the first two Tests due to personal reasons, which will likely give a Test debut to 29-year-old Abhimanyu Easwaran, who’s carved out four domestic centuries this season.

India is aiming to secure its third Test series victory on Australian soil in succession, having defeated Australia in the summers of 2018-19 and 2020-21.

Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is India’s vice-captain for the series.

Matches will be held at Optus Stadium, Adelaide Oval (day-night Test), the Gabba, the MCG and the SCG.

Australia is yet to announce its squad for the series.

One point of intrigue is who will partner Usman Khawaja at the top of the order following David Warner’s retirement and the news that Steve Smith will be returning to No.4.

Among the contenders to join Khawaja are Marcus Harris, Matthew Renshaw, Cameron Bancroft, Sam Konstas and Henry Hunt, while Nathan McSweeney could be used to open or bat at first drop.

India’s 18-man Test squad

Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar

Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed