Team India Test & T20I squads against Sri Lanka announced

Rohit Sharma has been named the Team India Test captain for the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka. An 18-member-squad for both Tests and T20Is have been announced by BCCI on Saturday, February 19.

Left arm spinner Saurabh Kumar, who represents Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket got his maiden call up as Axar Patel is on his path to recovery.

Ravindra Jadeja returned to the squad while Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara missed the cut in the Test squad. Other senior cricketers who missed the cut in Test squad are Ishant Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha.

Chief Selector Chetan Sharma said he spoke to all the four senior players who have been dropped and asked them to play Ranji Trophy while assuring them that the “doors are absolutely open” for them after the Sri Lanka series.

“The selection committee put a lot of thought into it and came to the decision. We have spoken to them earlier and we have told them that we will not consider them for the two Test matches against Sri Lanka. The doors are absolutely open for them. We told them to go and play Ranji Trophy. That is the best part for both of us, such senior cricketers are going and playing Ranji Trophy… Just for two Test matches, the selectors decided to give a chance to other cricketers,” Chetan Sharma said.

With regards to the new captain selection, Chetan Sharma regarded Rohit Sharma as a clear front runner for the role.

“Rohit Sharma is the No. 1 cricketer of our country and the most important thing is that he is playing all three formats. The important thing is how we manage Rohit and all the current cricketers are very professional, they know their body, they manage their body. With Rohit, there’s absolutely no problem at all. We will definitely talk to Rohit from time to time (with regards to rest and workload), and when we spoke, he’s absolutely okay. If a big player like him becomes a captain, then automatically – even we’ve spoken about it at the selection committee – grooming captains under Rohit Sharma will be a tremendous thing for us,” Chetan Sharma said.

Washington Sunder and KL Rahul have been ruled out of the Sri Lanka series due to fitness issues while Shardul Thakur has been rested.

TEAM INDIA TEST SQUAD:

Rohit Sharma (c), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin (subject to fitness) , Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Saurabh Kumar

The Test series will begin on March 4 in Mohali. It will mark the 100th Test for Virat Kohli.

Meanwhile on the T20I front, the 18-member-squad included Sanju Samson along with Ravindra Jadeja who is making his limited overs comeback.

Ravi Bishnoi made the cut once again after an impressive T20 series against West Indies.

Pacer Jasprit Bumrah returns as Virat Kohli is rested for the T20I series.

Team India T20I squad: 

Rohit Sharma (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Md Siraj, Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan.

The T20I series will begin on February 24 in  Lucknow. The second and third fixtures are set to take place in Dharamsala.