Ajinkya Rahane has been left out of the 16-man ODI squad for the three-match series in England in July. KL Rahul, who is in the middle of a splendid IPL season, makes his way back while 27-year-old Punjab speedster Siddarth Kaul has been included in both, the ODI and T20I squads.
Rahane was tasked with making the No. 4 position his own earlier this year in South Africa, after a host of options since the 2017 Champions Trophy didn’t live up to expectations. The Mumbai batsman began the six-match ODI series with an 86-ball 79 that involved a match-winning partnership with Virat Kohli, but could only manage scores of 11, 8, 8 and 34* in the rest of the series. Manish Pandey, another batsman who was viewed as a potential No.4 candidate, has also missed out.
BCCI have also brought back 32-year-old Ambati Rayudu, who last played an ODI in June 2016. Like Rahul and Kaul, Rayudu too has enjoyed a fantastic IPL 2018, topping the batting charts in CSK colours. The faith in Kaul also stems from his exceptional performance for Sunrisers Hyderabad – he picked 16 wickets in 10 games last season and has 13 in the 10 so far in the ongoing season.
The spin department continues to be without Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, while impressive Tamil Nadu offie Washington Sundar has been trusted to take the spot that was previously handed to left-arm orthodox bowler Axar Patel. Umesh Yadav is back, after last featuring in the series against Australia last September, while the likes of Shreyas Iyer and Dinesh Karthik have retained the place.
Yadav also finds a spot in the T20I setup, after last playing his only game in the format way back in 2012. BCCI has entrusted Suresh Raina and Pandey to continue to be trusted to shore up the middle-order in the shortest format. The pace department includes the two regulars – Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar – while Jaydev Unadkat and Shardul Thakur, who played in South Africa and Sri Lanka, are a couple of absentees for the upcoming series.
ODI squad: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Siddarth Kaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav
T20I squad: Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul,Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav
