CHENNAI: Days after two of India’s one-day stars and former captains — Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma — scored hundreds during Vijay Hazare Trophy matches, the two have been named in a 15-member squad for the three-match series against New Zealand.
Though Sharma and Kohli had had some prolific one-day matches – the only format they play currently – they returned to the domestic set-up that the BCCI has made a mandatory practice for all cricketers. As expected, Shubman Gill, who was nursing a neck injury during the South Africa ODI series, is back as captain. If the two senior players and the captain were automatic choices, Mohammed Siraj, who was dropped for the last ODI series, is making a welcome return and will bolster the pace attack. He will join Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana in the team.
Former India opener and commentator Aakash Chopra saw merit in Siraj's inclusion and welcomed his inclusion. He said that this will also lend some pace to the team. “Pace-heavy squad keeping in mind the dew,” he said. “And it’s good to see that Siraj is back. His prolonged exclusion wasn’t making sense.”
The bigger talking point in the lead-up to the selection was of Shreyas Iyer, who was out with a spleen laceration with internal bleeding after having a nasty landing in Australia. Having spent the last few days in the BCCI Centre of Excellence, Iyer is back as vice-captain but will be subject to fitness clearance. Gills and Iyer’s inclusions led to Ruturaj Gaikwad and Tilak Varma’s exclusions. Aakash felt it was good to see Iyer back. “Of course, his participation is subject to fitness clearance. But good to see him back,” he said. “Unfortunately, Ruturaj misses out who did score a century batting off-position (against SA).”
The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee did not pick star all-rounder Hardik Pandya because of workload management. He was not cleared by the CoE to bowl 10 overs, and with the T20 World Cup looming, this seemed precautionary. “Hardik Pandya has not been cleared by the BCCI COE to bowl 10 overs in a match, and considering the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to follow, his workload is being managed,” said the BCCI statement.
If their inclusions were expected, Rishabh Pant retaining his place seemed interesting. The wicketkeeper-batter has played only one match under head coach Gautam Gambhir and since then has not been the preferred choice. He had been there in the squad — whether it was in the Champions Trophy or during the recent ODI series against South Africa — but did not get a game. Over the last few days, thanks to his poor run of form in VHT, it seemed like Pant will miss out to in-form Ishan Kishan or Dhruv Jurel who has scored a century and three fifties in VH Trophy this season.
The selection committee has retained Pant in the squad, but KL Rahul is expected to be the first-choice keeper for India. The hosts would be hoping for a convincing win in the series that begins on January 11 in Baroda. The two other matches will be played in Rajkot and Indore on January 14 and 18.
India ODI squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Shreyas Iyer (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal