Prasidh Krishna and Krunal Pandya are among the surprising inclusions as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has named India’s squad for their upcoming ODI series against England.
The Men in Blue, led by Virat Kohli, are currently busy playing in their five-match T20I series after which the 50-overs games are scheduled to get underway on Tuesday, March 23. All the ODIs will be played at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.
Prasidh Krishna And Krunal Pandya New Names In 18 Man ODI Squad While Devdutt Padikkal And Prithvi Shaw Wasn’t Selected
The last two ODI series were lost by India which includes defeats in five games out of six. In Pune, India has played four ODIs out of which they won two. In the only ODI against England in 2017 at the venue, the hosts won by three wickets after twin tons from Virat Kohli and Kedar Jadhav. Pune last hosted an international game in January 2020 when India and Sri Lanka faced in a T20I.
Prasidh Krishna has played 24 IPL games and picked 18 scalps averaging 44.5 which isn’t too impressive, unlike his domestic performances. Karnataka pacer Prasidh Krishna made his IPL debut in 2018.
He averages 20.26 with the ball in 9 first-class games while picking 34 scalps. He picked 81 scalps in 48 List A games averaging 23.07 and picked 33 scalps in 40 T20s averaging 35.84 with the ball.
Prasidh Krishna, who has been on the radar for a while and has also earned Virat Kohli’s praise, took 14 wickets in the domestic 50-over competition while Krunal Pandya, who has played 18 T20Is, earned his maiden ODI call-up by scoring two hundred and as many fifties in five games for Baroda. Krunal Pandya has played 18 T20I so far and has 121 runs and 14 wickets to his name.
Prithvi Shaw amassed record 827 runs from 8 games including a double ton (unbeaten 227) in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy averaging 165.4 for Mumbai at a strike rate of 138.29.
Karnataka’s Devdutt Padikkal was second in the list of highest run-getters in the 50 overs domestic tournament with 737 runs from 7 appearances averaging 147.4. Both of them were ignored as Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, and KL Rahul were retained.
The last time India played ODIs, in Australia late last year, the squad had Mayank Agarwal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Manish Pandey, Navdeep Saini, and Sanju Samson, all of whom are missing from the line-up this time.
All Eyes Will Be On Likes Of Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant
For the upcoming series, eyes will be on Virat Kohli, who hasn’t scored a single century in international cricket since August 2019. Shreyas Iyer showed temperament of the highest quality in the first T20I after India lost early wickets. He scored a 48-ball 67, but couldn’t save his team from a loss. Shreyas Iyer has 807 runs in ODIs with one ton and eight fifties.
Rishabh Pant hasn’t played an ODI for over 14 months and the southpaw will be looking to make a mark. The youngster was in jaw-dropping form in both the Test series against Australia and England and also showed his audacity in the opening T20I when he reverse-swept Jofra Archer for a six over the third man region. Hardik Pandya was India’s star performer on the Australia tour and he will be looking to replicate something similar.
The onus will also be on Rohit Sharma, who has an ODI average of 50.44 against England from 13 games with two centuries. The bowling department has adequate experience, having pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in the ranks. Prasidh Krishna and Krunal Pandya are among the surprising inclusions. Mohammed Siraj and Suryakumar Yadav also found their names in the squad.
Here’s India’s squad
Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul (WK), Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur