India Squad WI Series: No place for Rishi Dhawan, Hardik Pandya – The All India Selection Committee made a surprising call on Wednesday after opting against selecting Rishi Dhawan in the squad for the series against West Indies. The selectors opted to stick with Venkatesh Iyer for the three T20Is, while Hardik Pandya missed out due to injury. Meanwhile, Washington Sundar and Deepak Hooda returned to the ODI squad against West Indies. Follow IND vs WI Live Updates on InsideSport.IN.
Rishi Dhawan had an impressive Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign, helping Himachal to their maiden domestic title. He finished the tournament with 458 runs at an average of 76.33 and 17 wickets in 8 matches. Despite finishing in the top five amongst the run-getters and the wicket-takers, Dhawan was ignored for the series.
India Squad WI Series: Selectors keep faith in Venkatesh Iyer in T20s, No Rishi Dhawan, Hardik Pandya in squad
With Hardik Pandya still not 100% fit, the selectos opted to continue with Venkatesh Iyer in T20s, while did not name a pace-bowling all-rounder for the three ODIs. Deepak Hooda, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar were named as batting all-rounders, while Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur are expected to add more depth later in the innings.
Head coach Rahul Dravid said Hardik’s absence was felt in South Africa as India greatly missed a sixth bowling option. The India team management did not trust Venkatesh Iyer’s bowling ability due to his inexperience.
“I think if you are a little bit honest, some of the guys who help us balance the squad out and give us those all-round options at Nos 6, 7 and 8 are probably not here, and available for selection. Hopefully, when they (Hardik and Jadeja) come back, it will give us lot more depth, it allows us then to probably play in a slightly different style,” Rahul Dravid said after India suffered a 0-3 humiliation in the ODI series against South Africa.
ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (Capt), KL Rahul (vc), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shikhar, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), D Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan
T20I squad: Rohit Sharma(Capt),KL Rahul (vc),Ishan Kishan,Virat Kohli,Shreyas Iyer,Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk),Venkatesh Iyer,Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi,Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel
India Squad WI Series: Rishi Dhawan set to trump Venkatesh Iyer, Hardik Pandya as all-rounder for West Indies Series
Also Read: India vs WI Series: R Ashwin’s white-ball comeback cut short, to MISS West Indies series with injury
With R Ashwin sidelined with an injury and Ravindra Jadeja yet to regain complete fitness, Washington Sundar will return to the fold as spin all-rounder. Sundar missed the South Africa tour after testing positive for Covid at the Bengaluru camp.
While Jadeja has started full practice, the selectors don’t want to take chance on him and he could be rested ahead of the Sri Lanka series.
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India Squad WI Series: Rishi Dhawan set to trump Venkatesh Iyer, Hardik Pandya as all-rounder for West Indies Series
Rohit Sharma set tor return – The good news is that Rohit Sharma is all set to come back from injury to lead India. A source close to the development told InsideSport that the team will be announced by this week after a chat with Rahul Dravid.
“Rahul (Dravid) has just come back. We will have a selection meeting by this week and the announcement will be done. Rohit is the most important player at present and we can’t rush things with his injury. He has recovered and we expect him to be back but we are yet to get his fitness test report. But we expect him to be back and lead the side,” a selection committee source told InsideSport.IN on Tuesday.
India Squad WI Series: Rishi Dhawan set to trump Venkatesh Iyer, Hardik Pandya as all-rounder for West Indies Series
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