Indian squad Rohit Sharma Ishant Sharma

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the Indian squads for the Australia tour, comprising fours Tests, three One-day Internationals and as many Twenty20 Internationals. Two prominent names are missing. One is Rohit Sharma, India’s limited-overs vice-captain, who is currently battling a hamstring injury. BCCI says their medical team will continue to monitor Sharma’s progress. The other name is that of the Test squad’s veteran fast bowler Ishant Sharma, who was ruled out of the IPL with a rib injury. Ishant’s progress will also be monitored by the BCCI’s medical team.

Having a dream run in the ongoing IPL 2020, KL Rahul has replaced Rohit Sharma in the Test format. The Kings XI Punjab skipper, for the first time in his international career, will be Kohli’s deputy in both ODI and T20I squads.

Royal Challengers Bangalore fast-bowling duo of Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj have been rewarded for their impressive performances with a place in the red-ball squad.

Navdeep Saini could be in line for a Test debut after being named in squads for all three formats, while Varun Chakravarthy is set to make his India debut having been included in the T20I squad.

Saini has impressed since making his India debut against West Indies in August 2019, especially in the shortest format where he has taken 13 wickets at 18.07 in 10 games for India. The 27-year-old has a tidy, if unremarkable, first-class record, claiming 125 wickets at 28.30 in 45 matches, but has earned a spot in the squad for India’s four-match Test series in Australia.

Kolkata Knight Riders’ mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who became the first bowler to pick up a five-wicket haul in the IPL 2020, has earned a maiden call-up to the Indian team, with a place in the shortest format squad. Interestingly, Rishabh Pant is not part of the limiter-overs squad, with Sanju Samson included as a backup keeper in the shortest format, while KL Rahul included as the lone wicket-keeper in ODI side.

Shikhar Dhawan, who is the first ever player to score back-to-back centuries in the cash-rich league has made a comeback into the side on the back of his superb form in the IPL. Shikhar had missed the New Zealand tour earlier this year.

Chennai Super Kings fast bowler Deepak Chahar has also made a comeback to the T20I side.

The BCCI also announced that four additional fast bowlers — Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi, Ishan Porel and T. Natarajan — will also be travelling to Australia with the Indian squads.

The tour for the Indian Squads will consist of three T20Is, three ODIs and four Tests. The ODI series will form part of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League, while the Test series will see the sides battle for top spot in the ICC World Test Championship.

Test squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-capt), 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 squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (vice-capt/wk), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur

T20I squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (vice-capt/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.

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