Indian captain Rohit Sharma did not appear at the much-anticipated pre-match press conference. There, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir confirmed that Akash has been ruled out of the Sydney Test match.

India have not named a replacement, but it may be one of Harshit Rana (who debuted in this series), Mukesh Kumar, and Prasidh Krishna. They may even play two of them, to bolster their pace attack as well as manage Jasprit Bumrah’s workload. However, Gambhir mentioned that they would name their XI.

Akash debuted earlier this year, when India decided to rest Jasprit Bumrah for the “live” Test match against England at Ranchi. He impressed with a quick triple-wicket burst on the first morning, and finished with 3-83. It remains his only three-wicket haul, though that had to do with him either not playing or bowling short spells on the spin-friendly pitches at home.

Across five home Tests (where he bowled fewer than 14 overs a Test), his career haul stood at 10 wickets at 25.80.

In Australia, India left out Akash for the first two Tests, at Perth and Adelaide. With the series level 1-1, they recalled him at Brisbane, where he troubled the batters again and again but with little returns. After the 1-95 in the first innings, he helped India avoid the follow-on, and took 2-28 as Australia went for a quick declaration.

He was also as unfortunate as Melbourne, where he got 2-94 in the first innings. He got the new ball ahead of Mohammed Siraj in the second innings, but went wicketless.

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