After a strong World Cup campaign that managed to take India to the semi-finals, Team India is ready for an overseas competition now. However a few changes have been made to the team. Ravi Shastri has been given an extended contract with the team despite popular furore that his short-sightedness led to the crumbling batting order in a match when India needed it the most. Also, ViratKohli has been retained as captain, and he too will try to regain some of his lost pride. ShikharDhawan, who was injured in the World Cup match against Australia, made a comeback to ODI squad.
Rohit Sharma, who was the leading run scorer of the recently-concluded World Cup, was selected for the Tests unanimously. ShreyasIyer, Manish Pandey, Navdeep Saini and Khaleel Ahmed were named in the ODI squad. The rest of the team has been retained. Only Bumrah has been given rest from the current T20 team but may come back before the series against South Africa.
Wicket-keeper batsman WriddhimanSaha returned to India’s Test squad after a long injury lay-off. Saha is back in the Test squad after undergoing a shoulder surgery to recover from an injury sustained during the 2018 IPL. Saha last played a Test match in South Africa back in January 2018.
“We have taken India A performances into consideration. In the longer format, KS Bharat was very, very close to get selected. We have an unwritten norm that when an established cricketer is injured, he should get a comeback opportunity. That’s what we have given to Saha,” chief selector MSK Prasad said. Hopefully he will perform as well as the rest of the wicketkeepers.
Leg spinner Rahul Chahar is only new face in India’s Twenty20 squad. Chahar has been rewarded for his consistent show in the IPL and domestic cricket with a berth in the Twenty20 squad.
“We had certain plans for the World Cup but after that we have to give opportunities to youngsters who will go on to play for long,” Prasad said of the young faces in the limited overs squads. India will start their West Indies tour from August 3 and will play three T20s, as many ODIs and two Test matches. This will be India’s first assignment post the World Cup, in which they were defeated by New Zealand in the semifinal by 18 runs. Let us hope for a more successful campaign in this overseas matches!
