5 Test series with maximum number of debutants

During the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21, the Indian team fielded five debutants in total. In the second Test, it was Mohammad Siraj and Shubman Gill, while in the third Test, it was Navdeep Saini. In the final Test, Washington Sundar and T Natarajan made their debuts. Australians also went on and handed debut caps to two of their players. Opening batsman Will Pucovski made his debut in the third Test, while all-rounder Cameron Green played for Australia ever since the first Test in Adelaide.

In total, there were seven young players who made their Test debuts in his series. Some would think that these are quite a high number of debutants in a single series. However, the record for the highest number of debutants in a series is way more than you would have imagined. 

5 Test series with most number of debutants

1. 25 players – England in Australia Test Series, 1876/77

This tour of the English team was going to be like any other first-class tours. But, the series soon became the first series to be classified under ‘international cricket’. There were two matches played in this series between Australia and England. There were 14 players who were used by the Australian team while 11 cricketers played for the England team. 

Both the Tests were played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and were timeless Tests. The first match was played from March 15 to March 19, which was won by Australia by 108 runs. In the second Test, England came back strongly and won that match by four wickets, levelling the series. Thus, began the rivalry between the legendary side, which later got the term, ‘Ashes series’. 

The series was not initially going to the first international games of cricket, but it was only later that they got designated as the first two Test matches in the history of the game.