India's new and regular captain in white-ball cricket, Rohit Sharma, made a comeback to the national side after a long injury layoff to lead the team in limited-overs series against West Indies, starting on February 6.
India and West Indies will play three ODIs and three T20Is starting with the 50-overs series to be played entirely in Ahmedabad on February 6, 9 and 11, followed by the T20Is which will be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on February 16, 18 and 20.
Rohit had missed India's home series against New Zealand as well as the entire tour of South Africa due to a hamstring injury, wherein India were defeated comprehensively in the Test and ODI series. The right-handed aggressive opening batsman, who has now taken over the charge to lead India in limited-overs cricket in place of Virat Kohli and also established himself as the vice-captain in Test cricket, is set to return at the helm in the series against West Indies which will be followed by a series against Sri Lanka at home.
India announced both their ODIs and T20Is squad late on Wednesday night for the series against West Indies. The hosts have dropped senior fast bowler Bhuvneshwar kumar and the experienced spinner Ravichandran Ashwin along with all-rounder Jayant Yadav, while bringing in the experienced Kuldeep Yadav, uncapped legspinner Ravi Bishnoi and spin bowling option in Deepak Hooda, whose inclusion beefs up the batting line-up.
The squad for the ODI series selected for the West Indies series indicates a string of changes that the selection committee headed by former India cricketer Chetan Sharma has taken following a horrendous show by the team in South Africa, where India were blanked 3-0 by a team in transition.
As has been the case with the India team in ODI cricket, the South Africa tour once again exposed middle-order frailties along with the inability of the bowling attack to take wickets, especially in the middle overs considered from 11-40.
Apart from India’s failure to impose themselves with the ball, the failure of the middle-order batsmen to get big totals individually and inability to stitch partnerships also played a key role in the series loss.
The return of Kuldeep will help India to pair him with their preferred right-arm leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, while the 21-year-old Bishnoi will certainly be learning a lot with the national side. Bishnoi has been impressive with the Punjab Kings in the India Premier League (LSG), and has been selected by the Lucknow Super Giant (LSG) ahead of the Indian T20 2022 mega auction to be held next month.
India vice-captain KL Rahul will not be available for the first ODI whereas the selectors have rested the senior fast bowling pair of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami. The spin bowling all-rounder in Axar Patel will be available for selection in the T20I series.
Meanwhile, the West Indies have brought back senior fast bowler Kemar Roach but did not include Rovman Powell in their ODI squad against India, despite the latter’s 51-ball 101 powering the Caribbean side to a 20-run win against England in the third T20I.
India ODI squad for West Indies series: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan.
India T20I squad vs West Indies: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel.
West Indies ODI squad for India tour: Kieron Pollard (c), Fabian Allen, Nkrumah Bonner, Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, Jason Holder, Shai Hope (wk), Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Nicholas Pooran, Kemar Roach, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Hayden Walsh Jr.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
Read All Articles >
