The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) revealed India’s squads for the New Zealand and Bangladesh tours following the ongoing T20 World Cup in Australia. While the men in blue are scheduled to play three T20Is and as many ODIs starting November 18, the Bangladesh tour would kick off from December 4 with three ODIs followed by two Test matches that are part of the current World Test Championship cycle.
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Here’s how the four squads look.
The Chairman of the Selection Committee, Chetan Sharma addressed the media following the announcement, in which he cleared the air around certain players who have/haven’t been added to the lineups.
🚨NEWS: The All-India Senior Selection Committee has picked the squads for India’s upcoming series against New Zealand and Bangladesh.
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— BCCI (@BCCI) October 31, 2022
Ravindra Jadeja: The India all-rounder, who pulled off midway during the 2022 Asia Cup and excluded from the T20 World Cup squad, will not feature on the New Zealand tour, but has been added in the ODI and the Test squad for Bangladesh. Jadeja is however, ‘still under ob servation of the BCCI medical team’ as stated by Sharma and his inclusion is subject to his progress that is being monitored by the BCCI medical team.
Jasprit Bumrah: Bumrah was also ruled out of the current World Cup squad hasn’t been added to any of the squads for the upcoming tours this year. “He will definitely be part of the team for the Australia series,” Sharma said when asked of the premium pacer’s current status. “We do not want to rush things with him this time as we did before. So we’ve been cautious with him for the Bangladesh series.”
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Ajinkya Rahane: The captain who led India to the famous Test series win down under was excluded from the India red ball side after the 2-1 series defeat in South Africa earlier this year. “For him to come back into the team, he will have to score more runs….he knows that,” said Sharma. “He has been in constant touch with the selection committee. The middle order is so packed that even Hanuma Vihari has found a spot in the squad.”
Hanuma Vihari: It is scarcely believable that since he sustained a grade 2 tear for his match saving batting in the Sydney Test back in 2021, Hanuma Vihari has only played in four out of the 18 Test matches India have played since. And he’ll miss two more not being selected for the Bangladesh series. “We spoke about him,” the chairman said. “If he hasn’t been selected it isn’t because there’s a shortcoming in him. He was there and he will be back up shortly.”
Sarfaraz Khan: With 1380 runs in 15 first class innings this year, six hundreds, an average of 106.15, it looked like Sarfaraz Khan had broken the Team India door. But the 25-year-old will have to wait further for that blue cap. When asked about what more the batter needs to do to be selected, Sharma said, “We are giving him the opportunities to him where we can. We opted for him in the India A squad. I’ve been speaking about him to the selectors as well. He will get an opportunity very soon.”
