India vs Australia 2019: BCCI Selectors to Pick Squad on February 15 – Reports
Feb 12, 2019 at 3:21 PM
Considering the workload of the senior campaigners, the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) selection committee will meet at its headquarters on February 15 (Friday) to announce the squad for India vs Australia 2019 limited-over series.
India will take on Kangaroos in the two-match Twenty20 International followed by five-match One-day International (ODI) series.
According to the Hindustan Times, the selectors are looking forward to announcing the squad which would also not allow Australia to gain the upper-hand.
The major decision over senior players:
Regarding the management of prominent players, the decision comes to the forth ahead of the 2019 World Cup, starting on May 30 in London.
“Workload management of the senior players will definitely be the main area of discussion as we all know that the Indians have been on the road and the selectors and team management have made a conscious effort to ensure that the players get ample rest between games and series,” a source close to HT revealed.
Earlier, the cramped schedule saw3 regular skipper Virat Kohli was rested for the two ODI fixtures against New Zealand. It further included the three-match Twenty20 International series.
Moreover, the source in the know to HT reiterated Rohit Sharma could miss a couple of games against Australia.
However, the question is how long the seniors will be kept out for the home series against Australia.
“Like you saw, regular skipper Virat Kohli was rested for the back end of the New Zealand series. You might see a Rohit Sharma rested for some games here,” the source added.
No favour for the Australian team:
While talking about striking a balance, the source maintained there are not in any mood to allow Australia to take advantage. Adding the positives in visitors favour will help them to gain impetus for the forthcoming 2019 World Cup.
“But it is also important to note that the Indians would want to keep the foot on the pedal and ensure that they don’t give the Australians any momentum going into the World Cup. A good series against India would mean a confidence booster for the team. So, there has to be a balance so that the composition of the team is not affected,” the source stated.
So, this will give a severe headache to selectors on announcing the squad while having the youngsters in the mix.
Moreover, as Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik will be fighting it out to win the race for the quadrennial event, it would be interesting to see what combination in the bowling department would be picked for the home series.
Players under watchful eyes?
Furthermore, the players are bound to feature in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Well, cricketing pundits have suggested players keep fitness in check while leading to the World Cup. Apart from it, the Team India head coach Ravi Shastri has already stressed the wards will remain under observation during the twelfth edition of the IPL.
“Usually, the two months of IPL are seen as relatively free months for me. And I can just sit down and enjoy the cricket, watch out for new, young talents that keep emerging. But this IPL will be about monitoring the players, keeping the World Cup in mind,” Shastri told media earlier.
Meanwhile, the much-awaited competition will kick off in Vizag on February 24.