Shreyas & Manish Back in Reckoning; Saha Returns to Test Side

From left: Wriddhiman Saha, Manish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer.

(Photo: The Quint)

Middle-order batsmen Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey made a comeback to the limited-over side while wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha returned to the Test side as the Indian team for the tour of West Indies was announced in Mumbai on Sunday, 21 July.

Meanwhile, senior opener Shikhar Dhawan was also included in the ODI squad after recovering from a thumb fracture, which ruled him out midway into the World Cup.

Rookie leg-spinner Rahul Chahar was the only new face across three formats.

Skipper Virat Kohli will lead India in all three formats while Mahendra Singh Dhoni has taken a break for two months to serve his paramilitary regiment in the Indian army.

Wriddhiman Saha was ruled out after he underwent 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.

Both Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey were rewarded for a good show in the ongoing ODI series between India A and West Indies A.

Rajasthan leg-spinner Chahar earned his place in the side after a consistent show in the IPL and domestic cricket with a berth in the T20 squad. He is younger cousin of seamer Deepak, who is also in the T20 squad.

From the World Cup squad, the prominent player to be dropped is Dinesh Karthik while Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested as a part of workload management programme. Bumrah though is part of the Test squad.

Starting with the T20I side, the batting at the top wears a similar look with Shikhar Dhawan coming back at the top.

Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey have been brought back in the middle-order. The spin department sees the call-up of Rahul Chahar for what has been a quality show in the Indian Premier League.

The pace bowling department also has a fresh look with Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar and Navdeep Saini in the squad giving Bhuvneshwar Kumar company.

T20I Squad

• Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (WK), Krunal Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Rahul Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini

In the ODI squad, it has been the biggest surprise as Kedar Jadhav and Kuldeep Yadav have both been given another go. After a poor show in the World Cup, it was expected that the selectors would look at fresh faces, but clearly, that hasn’t been the case.

Bhuvneshwar again has Khaleel and Saini for company while Mohammed Shami is back in the ODI squad after the selectors decided to rest him for the T20Is.

ODI Squad

• Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kedar Jadhav, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Navdeep Saini

The Test squad also has almost the same look from the last time with most of them picking themselves and Bumrah coming back for the Test Championship.

With Rohit doing well in the last series against Australia, he has also retained his place in the middle-order.

Umesh Yadav has been backed as the fourth pacer behind Ishant Sharma, Bumrah and Mohammed Shami while Bhuvneshwar has missed out.

Test Squad

• Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (VC), Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, C Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (WK) Wriddhiman Saha (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav

The Indians will first play the limited-overs series -- three T20Is and three ODIs between August 3 and August 14 -- before starting their campaign in the Test championship with two Tests in Antigua and Jamaica.