Virat Kohli To Attend Selection Meeting, MS Dhoni's Availability On Top Of Agenda

Team India captain Virat Kohli will attend the selection meeting along with the five selectors before the announcement of the squad for the tour of West Indies. The squad will be announced on Sunday (July 21). One of the biggest points of discussion during the meeting will be around MS Dhoni. The speculations are rife over the future of the ageing star.

There were rumours during the World Cup that MS Dhoni might bring down curtains on his international career at the end of India’s campaign. However, the 38-year old has decided against retiring from the game. Dhoni is unlikely to retire any time soon. He, however, looks set to be rested for the tour.

Also Read: No Split Captaincy, Virat Kohli To Lead India Across Formats

Dhoni has been in action since the start of the year which includes tour of Australia, New Zealand, a home series against Australia, the IPL and the World Cup A source said that the selectors are likely to rest the players after the busy period.

“The selectors might consider resting some players for the limited-overs series because they have had no break in the last couple of months starting with IPL-12. But they will be aware of the fact that the World Test Championships begins will two Tests in the West Indies for India. Every Test win is important especially away from home. So it’s possible they will send a full-strength squad for the Test series,” sources close to the selectors told CricketNext.

Along with Dhoni, some other big names are also set to be rested. In that case, the likes of Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Krunal Pandya, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill will come into consideration.

The tour of West Indies will be starting from August 3rd. India will play three each ODIs and T20Is before heading to the 2-match Test series, which is a part of the World Test Championship.

Here is the full schedule of India’s tour to West Indies:

1st T20I – August 3 at Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground, Lauderhill, Florida

2nd T20I – August 4 at Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground, Lauderhill, Florida

3rd T20I – August 6 at Providence Stadium, Guyana

1st ODI – August 8 at Providence Stadium, Guyana

2nd ODI – August 11 at Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad

3rd ODI – August 14 at Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad

1st Test – August 22-August 26 at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua

2nd Test – August 30 – September 3 at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica