Virat Kohli Rested As BCCI Announces Squad For Bangladesh T20Is, Rohit Sharma To Lead

Indian skipper Virat Kohli was the only regular to be rested as the national selection panel headed by MSK Prasad picked the squad for the three-match T20I series against Bangladesh. The Indian skipper has been playing on a continues basis since the home series against Australia. He was expected to be rested for the limited-overs series against West Indies but travelled to the Caribbean islands.

Rohit Sharma, Kohli’s deputy in white-ball cricket, will lead the team once again.

The series will also see the comeback of Yuzvendra Chahal to the T20I fold. The leg-spinner was dropped for the West Indies T20Is and was ignored for the South Africa series too. But he has been recalled. Apart from Chahal, Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar (both all-rounders) and Rahul Chahar are other three spinners in the squad.

Sanju Samson, who last played for India in 2015, has also been recalled after four years. The Kerala all-rounder recently struck a double-century in Vijay Hazare Trophy and pressed his case for selection. Despite him making a comeback, Rishabh Pant will continue to don the wicket-keeping gloves.

Shivam Dube, the Mumbai and RCB all-rounder, was handed his maiden call-up. A hard-hitting batsman, Dube will fill the shoes of Hardik Pandya in his absence. Just like Pandya, Dube can play big shots and can also chip in with crucial wickets. He has been an India A regular right from the previous season and was snared by RCB for Rs 5 Crore in the IPL auction last year.

Surprisingly, there was no place for Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the T20I side as the selectors recalled Shardul Thakur in place of Navdeep Saini. Deepak Chahar and Khaleel Ahmed are other two pacers in the squad.

KL Rahul, who has lost his place in the Test squad, was also included.

Former India captain MS Dhoni wasn’t a part of the squad. Multiple reports had confirmed that he would be missing the series.

The T20I series kicks off on November 3 with the first game to be played in Delhi. The second T20I will be played in Rajkot on November 7 while Nagpur will host the third T20I on November 10. The two teams also play two Tests later in the month.

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that Bangladesh’s players will travel to India as they have called off the strike.

Squad: Rohit Sharma(Capt), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant(wk), Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shivam Dube, Shardul Thakur