India are rumoured to hand two debut caps - Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy - in Perth next Friday in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series opener against Australia amid the likely absence of Rohit Sharma and injured Shubman Gill. However, the decision on the latter, the all-rounder, met with criticism on Monday.

Nitish made his international debut earlier last month in the home T20I series against Bangladesh, scoring 90 runs in three innings, including a fifty, and picking three wickets. He was then added to the India Test squad for the tour of Australia, for which he was sent Down Under for two four-day match series against Australia A in a bid to get an early preparation. But the all-rounder returned with a quiet performance in his maiden visit Down Under, scoring 71 runs in four innings, including a duck, and picking just one wicket.

Rumours around Nitish's potential debut peaked on Sunday after the 21-year-old was seen having a lot of conversations with head coach Gautam Gambhir and some of the senior players at the WACA during Day 3 of the match simulation.

Former India cricketer Dodda Ganesh, taking to social media, called out the potential move as “senseless” as he reckoned Nitish is still underprepared for playing the longer format.

"Either pick a genuine bowler, or go with a genuine batter if you feel the batting needs to be bolstered. This fast-tracking of Nitish Reddy for tests serves no purpose. He is still undercooked to be playing the longer format," Dodda said in a post on X on Monday.

A look at Nitish Reddy's red-ball credentials

The Andhra cricketer played 23 First-Class matches, scoring 779 runs at 21.05 with one century and two fifties. He also picked 56 wickets at 26.98, comprising two five-wicket hauls.

His best performance came in the last Ranji Trophy season, where he not only showed his ability to swing the ball both ways in mid-130s but also was Andhra's top wicket-taker with 25 scalps at 18.76, which included a five-wicket haul against Mumbai, where he dismissed Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer.

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