Yuvraj Singh Makes A Comeback To India’s ODI Squad, Rishabh Pant Selected For T20Is
Jan 9, 2019 at 4:12 PM
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Friday, announced the squad for the three ODIs and three-T20Is series against England, starting January 15. Virat Kohli was named as the skipper of the Indian team for both formats after M.S. Dhoni relinquished the captaincy on January 4.
Yuvraj Singh highlighted the selection meet as the all-rounder made a comeback to the IODI squad after a period of three years. He was also included in T20I squad after being dropped for Zimbabwe and two Florida T20Is against the West Indies. Along with him, rookie Rishabh Pant also made the noise as the left-handed explosive batsman was named in the T20I squad.
Yuvraj Singh smashed a total 672 runs in Ranji Trophy 2016/17 including two centuries, which also comprises of a double-century. A century in Lahli was the best innings played by him in this season according to the chief selector MSK Prasad as he said, “You should appreciate the way Yuvraj has played in domestic cricket. He’s got 180 on a Lahli wicket.”
Apart from that, he also smashed a double century on the occasion of Diwali at Feroz Shah Kotla in front of national selectors Sarandeep Singh and Devang Gandhi, further forcing his way into the squad. His innings was lauded by Sarandeep, who stood up and applauded Yuvi’s efforts.
As for Pant, he smashed a total of 972 runs 12 innings in Ranji at a sky-towering strike-rate of 107.28. He entered the record books when he smashed the fastest ever century in history of Ranji Trophy which came against Jharkhand off just 48 deliveries. He also smashed a run a ball triple-century against Maharashtra at the Wankhede stadium.
Fit-again KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar also made their way back to the ODI squad. Ajinkya Rahane and Hardik Pandya, who were ruled out of England Test series, were also named in the squad.
Mandeep Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni, Axar Patel, Rohit Sharma and Jayant Yadav were the five players to be left out from the ODI squad.
For T20Is, the selectors dropped Shikhar Dhawan. Ashish Nehra made a comeback to the T20I squad after missing the Zimbabwe and Florida T20Is. He was a part of the Indian squad in the T20 World Cup 2016.
Injured Mohammed Shami and Rohit Sharma were not included in any of the squads.
The BCCI also announced two separate squads for the two practice games against England to be played at CCI ground at Mumbai.
M.S. Dhoni will lead India A in the first practice game which includes senior pros like Shikhar Dhawan, Mandeep Singh, Ambati Rayudu and Yuvraj Singh.
Ajinkya Rahane will lead the India A squad in the second practice game.
ODI Squad:
KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav
T20I Squad:
KL Rahul, Mandeep Singh, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Manish Pandey, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra.