MS Dhoni has been dropped from India’s T20I squads for their three-match series against Windies and Australia.
The slow left-arm pair of Krunal Pandya and Shahbaz Nadeem have received their maiden call-ups.
Dhoni’s legacy as one of India’s greatest limited-overs cricketers is assured, but the decision to leave him out will still come as a blow; at the age of 37 years old, it may well spell the end of his T20I career, especially with Rishabh Pant emerging as a ball-stirker par excellence.
It could even prove to be the first indication that India are considering leaving Dhoni out of next summer’s Men’s Cricket World Cup squad. There have been some rumblings about his continued worth in ODI and T20I cricket, with his ability to score at the pace required for modern white-ball cricket in doubt.
The only difference between the two squads is the absence of Virat Kohli from the squad to take on the Windies at home. It has become routine for him to obtain rest from a busy international schedule by missing certain engagements, with his absence also giving India the chance to take a look at some other options.
In this instance, Nadeem takes his place in the squad, though it is hardly a like-for-like replacement – Nadeem averages under 10 in T20 cricket. In September he broke the record for the best-ever List A figures, taking 8/10 for Jharkhand against Rajasthan in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
He was also one of five spinners taken by India to the UAE as they prepared for the Asia Cup and has also impressed for Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Krunal Pandya, brother of seam-bowling all-rounder Hardik, also shot to prominence through the IPL, starring with both bat and ball for Mumbai Indians. He has taken 51 wickets in T20s at an excellent economy of 6.96, and scored his 967 runs at an average of 26.86 and a brilliant strike-rate of 146.96.
He won’t make his debut alongside Hardik, with his brother still recovering from an injury sustained during the Asia Cup. Siddarth Kaul, Suresh Raina, and Deepak Chahar are the other omissions from India’s last T20I assignment, against England.
India’s series against Windies begins on 6 November at Kolkata. Their series against Australia begins on 21 November at Brisbane.
SQUAD FOR AUSTRALIA T20Is: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed
SQUAD FOR WINDIES T20Is: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed, Umesh Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem
