Indian pacer Navdeep Saini will make his Test debut against Australia on Thursday at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The right-arm pacer has replaced injured Umesh Yadav in India’s playing XI which was announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Ahead of playing his first international Test match, Saini was seen sweating it out in the nets. The 28-year-old bowler from Delhi trained hard under the watchful eyes of bowling coach Bharat Arun and head coach Ravi Shastri.

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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared Saini’s training video on Twitter.

“Fast & furious! @navdeepsaini96 is all set for his Test debut at the @scg tomorrow. #TeamIndia #AUSvIND,” read the caption on the tweet.

Check out the video:

Besides Saini, the other players of the touring Indian team were seen training in another video shared by the Indian cricket board. The likes of Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara were batting in the final training session ahead of the Sydney Test.

“Final training session ahead of the 3rd Test,” the caption of the video read.

Earlier today, India announced their playing XI for the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. A fit-again Rohit Sharma, who has been named as the vice-captain of the team, has returned into the line-up and replaced opener Mayank Agarwal.

ALSO READ | India vs Australia: India announce playing XI for Sydney Test, Navdeep Saini to make debut

Rahane said Rohit has been batting really well in the nets and he would be seen batting at the top of the innings in the Pink Test.

India have decided to go with the spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja who shared a total of 8 wickets at the MCG.

Right-arm pacer Jasprit Bumrah will be leading the pace attack and is expected to show the way with his bagful of tricks. Whether it’s Siraj or Saini, whoever shares the new ball will have their task cut out as they aim to match the highest standards set by the likes of Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma.

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