India’s squads for Australia tour announced
The much-awaited Indian squad for the impending Australian tour has been announced. The Sunil Joshi-led selection committee named a 16-man, 15-man and 18-man squad for T20Is, ODIs and Tests respectively for what is going to be a tour which will go on for more than two months.
First things first. India have copped with a couple of massive blows. Rohit Sharma has not been considered in all three formats as he suffered a hamstring injury in the ongoing Indian Premier League and even missed a couple of games for the Mumbai Indians. Ishant Sharma who had a muscle tear which ruled him out of the entire IPL misses the bus as well. However, BCCI’s medical staff is closely monitoring the fitness of the two enior players.
India’s premier Test opener Mayank Agarwal has received a call-up in all three formats alongside his state-mate who returns to the Test squad after more than a year. Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Navdeep Saini, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami are the others who found a place in all three squads.
Varun Chakravarthy has received a maiden call-up and is a part of the T20I squad. The mystery spinner from Tamil Nadu has been impressive in the 2020 edition of the IPL so far. Kuldeep Yadav has been picked in the ODI and the Test squad but has been axed from the T20I squad. Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja are the spinners apart from Chakravarthy in the T20I squad. Chahal and Jadeja are in the ODI squad as well alongside Kuldeep.
Apart from the pace trio mentioned above who are picked in all three squads, Deepak Chahar is in the T20I squad while Shardul Thakur makes it to the ODI squad. Shikhar Dhawan returns to the T20I fold as well after looking in ominous form in the ongoing IPL. The likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya and Axar Patel haven’t been considered for the T20I squad.
Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant has also been overlooked in the white-ball squads. KL Rahul will be India’s premier wicket-keeper batsman in the shorter formats with Sanju Samson being the back in the T20I squad. Hardik Pandya who was expected to return to international cricket back in March has been picked for the white-ball formats. However, his inability to bowl in the IPL has raised a few questions.
The Test squad is on the expected lines. The 15 out of the 16 members that travelled to New Zealand as a part of the Test squad have been retained. Pant retains as the incumbent wicket-keeper batsman for the longest format while Mohammad Siraj has been rewarded for his consistent performances in the domestic circuit. Rahul returns to the Test squad for the first time since the West Indies tour last August.
In addition to the squads, the selectors have picked four additional fast bowlers in Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi, Ishan Porel and T. Natarajan who will travel with the squad.
NEWS – Four additional bowlers – Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi, Ishan Porel and T. Natarajan – will travel with the Indian contingent.
The BCCI Medical Team will continue to monitor the progress of Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma. #AUSvIND
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 26, 2020
SQUADS:
Test: Virat Kohli (c), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj
ODI: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (vc & wk), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur
T20I: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (vc & wk), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy
International cricket returns for the Indian cricket team after close to nine months and for the first time in the post-Covid world. India travel to Australia for a full-fledged Australian tour.
Virat Kohli and his men play three ODIs, three T20Is and four Test matches. The tour kicks off with the ODI series on the 27th of November followed by the T20I series on the 4th of December. The big four-match Test series (Border-Gavaskar Trophy) will start on the 17th of December at the Adelaide Oval hosting a day-night fixture.
The entire Indian squad along with the support staff is scheduled to leave after the conclusion of the IPL final which will be played on November 10th. The Test specialists and the support staff who are not a part of the IPL teams have flown to the UAE. There is a separate bio-bubble that has been created for them as they will start training once they finish their six-day quarantine.