Rohit Sharma, who has missed the last two Mumbai Indians games in the Indian Premier League after sustaining an injury, has been omitted from the squads for India’s tour of Australia.
The BCCI on Monday announced the squads picked by the senior national selection panel, headed by Sunil Joshi, for three ODIs, three T20Is and four Tests to be played from November 27 to January 19.
“The BCCI Medical Team will continue to monitor the progress of Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma,” stated a BCCI media release. Ishant, the pace spearhead, returned home from the IPL after getting injured.
While Rohit and Ishant have fitness concerns, wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has been dropped from the limited-over squads. While K.L. Rahul, who has also been elevated as vice-captain for the ODIs in Rohit’s absence, is the sole ’keeper in the 50-over format, he has back-up in Sanju Samson, who has retained his place in the T20I squad.
Rahul also makes a return to the Test squad. In Ishant’s absence, Mohammed Siraj has been named as the fifth pacer for the Test series in a squad of 18.
Varun Chakravarthy in T20I squad
Varun Chakravarthy, the mystery spinner from Tamil Nadu, couldn’t have timed his maiden IPL five-wicket haul better, as he has earned a maiden call-up for the T20I squad. In fact, he is the only uncapped cricketer to have been selected across three squads.
In addition to the 28 players who will feature in the three squads combined, the selection committee has chosen pacers Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi, Ishan Porel and T. Natarajan to travel to Australia as back-up.
The squads are
T20I squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (vice-captain and wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy
ODI squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (vice-captain & wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur
Test squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Mohd. Siraj
Four additional bowlers — Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi, Ishan Porel and T. Natarajan — will travel with the Indian contingent.
