MUMBAI: Opening batsman Murali Vijay returned to India’s squad for the first two Tests against Sri Lanka next month after missing the matches against the same opponents earlier this year with a wrist injury.
The 33-year-old right-hander underwent surgery in England following the four-Test series against Australia at the beginning of the year and missed India’s 3-0 victory in Sri Lanka in July-August.
The world’s top-ranked Test side will have Vijay and K.L. Rahul back at the top of the batting order while Shikhar Dhawan will be the reserve opener in the 16-man squad.
Left-handed opener Abhinav Mukund missed out from the squad that toured Sri Lanka.
Kolkata’s Eden Gardens will host the opening match of the three-Test series from Nov 16 with the second and third Tests in Nagpur and Delhi.
Talismanic batsman Virat Kohli will continue to lead the side but his workload is being monitored, India’s chairman of selectors M.S.K. Prasad said.
India will also play three One-day Internationals and the same number of T20s against Sri Lanka.
“With regard to Virat Kohli there has been some speculation that he’s going to be rested for the whole of Sri Lanka series,” Prasad told reporters on Monday. “It’s not right. Yes, as far as Test series is concerned, he’s going to play and at some point of time, the rotation policy that we’re following will also apply to the captain.
“We’re also monitoring his workload — he’s been playing continuously right from the IPL. We need to give him a break and we will consider after the Test series.”
Meanwhile, the selectors named uncapped rising stars Mohammed Siraj and Shreyas Iyer in their Twenty20 squad for the three-match series against New Zealand starting next month.
The 23-year-old Siraj, a pace bowler for Indian Premier League (IPL) side Sunrisers Hyderabad, was called up after a string of impressive performances for India ‘A’.
Iyer is a 22-year-old right-handed batsman who plays first class cricket for Mumbai. He has turned out for the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL.
The T20 series follows a three-match ODI contest between the sides.
New Zealand stunned the hosts in the first 50-overs match on Sunday, successfully chasing down 281 thanks to an unbeaten Tom Latham century and 95 from Ross Taylor.
A Virat Kohli ton had fired India to 280-8 but New Zealand won the match by six wickets and with six balls to spare, finishing on 284-4.
The first T20 takes place in Delhi on Nov 1. The teams will then line up in Rajkot on Nov 4 followed by the final match in Thiruvananthapuram on Nov 7.
Veteran bowler Ashish Nehra, who is due to retire after the first match, will drop out of the squad for the remaining fixtures, selectors said in a statement.
Rahul, who was dropped from the ongoing three-match One-day International series against New Zealand, also earned a place in the T20 squad against the Black Caps.
T20 squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, K.L. Rahul, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, M.S. Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Ashish Nehra.
Test squad: Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay, Rahul, Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Kumar.
Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2017
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