Former Australian batter Michael Hussey has shared his surprise after Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were left out of the opening Test match against Australia at Perth. While Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana were handed Test debuts, Washington Sundar has been backed as the solitary spinner in the playing XI.

Mostly, Jadeja is the first-choice spinner in overseas conditions but Sundar was able to get ahead in the pecking order after he scalped 16 wickets in two Test matches against New Zealand and also scored 89 runs at an average of 44.50.

Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel were also included in the team’s final XI by the team management for the series opener.

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

Hussey was surprised to note Ashwin and Jadeja’s absence as the veteran duo can also deliver with the bat in the lower-middle order.

“The Indians have obviously looked at the pitch, seen plenty of grass on it. 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. It is a surprise because Ashwin and Jadeja can help out with the bat as well,” Hussey added on Fox Cricket.

Indian captain Jasprit Bumrah decided to bat first after winning the toss but the tourists were struggling at 51-4 at lunch.