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BCCI Secretary Ajay Shirka announced India’s 15-man test squad for the upcoming home series against New Zealand and predictably, there were no big surprises.
Just two players were dropped from the 17-member team that toured West Indies last month with our favourite all-rounder Stuart Binny and young pacer Shardul Thakur not finding favour among the selectors.
The series against New Zealand starts September 22 in Kanpur.
We have stuck to the combination which has done very well. We were of the opinion that this was the best possible combination for New Zealand.Sandeep Patil, Chairman of Selectors
The focus before the selection meeting was mainly on Mumbai batsman Rohit Sharma who’s had an erratic Test career so far. In the recent series against the West Indies in the Caribbean, he got a chance to play in two out of four games, one of which was washed out. In the third Test, he managed scores of just 9 and 41 in the two innings.
Rohit also did not do well in the first innings of the ongoing Duleep Trophy final after being specifically included in the India Blue to prep for the upcoming series. He made just 30 runs on Saturday before throwing his wicket away.
Still No Place for Gambhir
Former India opener Gautam Gambhir was also ignored by the selectors despite four back-to-back half centuries in the ongoing Duleep Trophy. Instead, the committee stuck to fellow Delhi opener Shikhar Dhawan, whose place in the side has been questioned along with Rohit.
We want him (Dhawan) to come good, not only him, we want all 15 to perform. We have discussed not only Gautam but other seniors also. We have not forgotten the seniors, we discuss a lot of players... we have chosen only 15 players for this series but I am happy to say that we have a big pool of some 30 odd players.Sandeep Patil, Chairman of Selectors
The squad to be led by Virat Kohli, will have Ajinkya Rahane as his deputy. There are six specialist batsmen with Wriddhiman Saha as the wicketkeeper. Ravindra Jadeja is the lone all-rounder while in the bowling department, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma will spearhead the pace attack, while Amit Mishra and R Ashwin held on to the two slots for spinners.
The squad also features three Test openers, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan and K L Rahul, and when asked who would be the preferred choice, Patil put the onus on the skipper and team management.
The playing eleven will be decided by captain and coach depending on the conditions. We want him (Dhawan) to come good, not only Shikhar but all the 15 we have selected.Sandeep Partil, Chairman of Selectors
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