Cricket
oi-Gaurav Sharma
Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya will not be involved in India’s forthcoming white-ball series against the West Indies after the selectors named the ODI and T20I squads on Wednesday.
The news regarding the exclusion of Rishabh Pant is among the most talked about pieces of information that emerged from the selection process. The wicketkeeper-batter was considered as a possibility to make his ODI debut, with Shreyas Iyer unavailable for the series, but the selectors have opted for Dhruv Jurel.
Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya are excluded from India’s ODI and T20I squads for the West Indies series beginning September 27; Pandya is unfit while Pant will captain the Rest of India in the Irani Cup, with Dhruv Jurel selected for ODIs. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli return.
Rishabh Pant will captian the Rest of India side in the upcoming Irani Cup, offering him some competitive cricket while he waits for another opportunity to return to India’s limited-overs plans.
Hardik Pandya has also been left out of both squads. Hardik Pandya’s continued absence comes as he has not yet regained full fitness. With Hardik Pandya unavailable, Nitish Kumar Reddy has been included in the ODI squad after being withdrawn from India’s Asian Games group.
The three-match ODI series against the West Indies begins on September 27.
India ODI squad
- Shubman Gill (Captain)
- Rohit Sharma
- Virat Kohli
- Ruturaj Gaikwad
- KL Rahul (Vice-Captain)
- Dhruv Jurel
- Nitish Kumar Reddy
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Kuldeep Yadav
- Prasidh Krishna
- Gurnoor Brar
- Mohammed Siraj
- Auqib Nabi
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- Naman Dhir
Auqib Nabi and Naman Dhir have received their maiden ODI call-ups, while Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel are also part of the squad. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli return to the ODI setup.
India T20I squad
- Shreyas Iyer (Captain)
- Abhishek Sharma
- Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
- Ishan Kishan (Wicketkeeper)
- Sanju Samson (Wicketkeeper)
- Tilak Varma (Vice-Captain)
- Shivam Dube
- Kuldeep Yadav
- Axar Patel
- Washington Sundar
- Ravi Bishnoi
- Nitish Kumar Reddy
- Arshdeep Singh
- Prince Yadav
- Mayank Yadav
Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya are absent from the T20I squad as well. Kuldeep Yadav returns to the T20I setup, while Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav have also been included.
The selections provide India with an opportunity to look at a number of players ahead of their upcoming international commitments, while the continued absence of Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya remains a major talking point from the squad announcement.
