India have rested Virat Kohli from the upcoming three-match T20I series against Bangladesh, handing over the reins to Rohit Sharma. Kerala batsman Sanju Samson, who scored a record-breaking 212* recently in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, gets a recall whereas Mumbai all-rounder Shivam Dube received his maiden call-up to the national side, coming in as a like-for-like replacement for Hardik Pandya who’s recovering from a lower-back surgery he underwent in London on October 4.
T20I Squad: Rohit Sharma(c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant(wk), Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shivam Dube, Shardul Thakur
India have named an unchanged squad for the two Tests that follow, except that Shahbaz Nadeem doesn’t find a place. The Jharkhand spinner was flown in as a cover for Kuldeep Yadav before the third Test against South Africa and ended up making his debut.
India’s T20I squad also marks the return of Shardul Thakur and Yuzvendra Chahal. While Thakur, who last played a T20I in the Nidahas Trophy in 2018, replaces Navdeep Saini in the squad, Chahal finds himself back in contention for the first time after the World Cup. The legspinner was left in the cold for the tour of West Indies and the home series against South Africa after India’s semi-final exit in England.
Samson, 24, finds himself back into the international fold after more than four years, having made his T20I debut against Zimbabwe in Harare in 2015. This is Samson’s third call-up to the national side. He was a part of India’s 2014 limited-overs tour of England but ended up warming the bench all tour. He finally got his T20I cap in Zimbabwe, where he joined the team belatedly after Ambati Rayudu was ruled out due to injury.
Samson’s 212 not out against Goa in the Vijay Hazare Trophy recently was the highest List A score in domestic cricket in India, pushing forward his contention for an India berth. He finished the tournament with 410 runs at an average of 58.57 amd a strike-rate of 125.
Dube, 26, finds himself in the squad for his big-hitting down the order. He recently scored 118 off 67 balls against Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He also had a handy series against South Africa A prior to that, adding quick runs towards the end of the innings and boasting scores of 79*(60), 45*(28) and 31(17). He, though, had just the one wicket to show for across four games.
The selection committee headed by MSK Prasad have not picked MS Dhoni, whose future in international cricket is still under a cloud after he opted to take a sabbatical post the 2019 World Cup.
The first T20I between India and Bangladesh is scheduled on November 3, at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Test Squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant
