With the Indian cricket team looking to resume international cricket with the Australian tour, the squads for all three formats have been announced by the BCCI's Senior National Selection Committee on Monday. The tour comprises of four Tests, three One-day Internationals (ODI) and as many Twenty20 Internationals.
Rohit Sharma, who is currently battling a hamstring injury, has been left out of the three squads. Veteran pacer Ishant Sharma, who was ruled out of the IPL with a rib injury has been left out of the Test squad. The BCCI has said that their medical team will continue to keep track of their progress.
KL Rahul will be replacing Rohit in the longest format. The Kings XI Punjab skipper, who is having a dream run in the ongoing IPL 2020, has been appointed as Kohli's deputy in both ODI and T20I squads for the first time in his international career. Royal Challengers Bangalore’s fast-bowling duo of Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj have been picked for the red-ball squad after their impressive performances during the ongoing IPL 2020. Despite consistently performing in the IPL for many years, Mumbai Indian’s batsman Suryakumar Yadav wasn’t picked in any of the squads.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ leggie Varun Chakravarthy has earned a maiden call-up to the Indian T20 squad. Chennai Super Kings’ pacer Deepak Chahar also makes a comeback to the T20 side. It is worth noting that Rishabh Pant is not part of the limited-overs squad, with Sanju Samson included as a backup keeper in the T20 format, while KL Rahul has been included as the lone keeper in ODI side. Rishabh and Wriddhiman Saha will be the keepers in the Test side. Kuldeep Yadav also returns to the Test squad.
The BCCI announced that Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi, Ishan Porel and T Natarajan will be travelling with the Indian contingent to Australia as they will be helping with training in the absence of net bowlers.
