As the Indian selectors announced the 18-member squad for the series, it’s stated that KL Rahul would be available from the second ODI onwards. There were speculations and rumours behind its reasons whether he was rested or recovering from injury.
However, it has been understood that the Karnataka batter would miss the first ODI in order to attend his sister’s wedding. According to a report in ESPNcricinfo, the date of her marriage is not known yet but Rahul will join the squad on February 6 and will complete a 3-day mandatory quarantine period to be available for the second ODI.
Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami have been rested from the series.
KL Rahul will be available from 2nd ODI onwards.
R Jadeja is undergoing his final stage of recovery post his knee injury and will not be available for the ODIs and T20Is.
Axar Patel will be available for the T20Is.— BCCI (@BCCI) January 26, 2022
KL Rahul has been named vice-captain of the T20I and ODI team
On Wednesday the Indian camp has been hit by a Covid outbreak as 7 members tested positive for Covid-19 which included three players from the squad- Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Shikhar Dhawan. The fast bowler Navdeep Saini, who was among standby players, also returned with positive results. So there is a shortage of batters in the squad.
BCCI announced that Mayank Agarwal has been added to the squad as a cover and is likely to join the team on Thursday. Other batters who are available for the selection for the first ODI are Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, and Deepak Hooda. The second ODI will be played on February 9.
The first ODI will be a historic occasion as India will become the first-ever team to play 1000 ODIs. In 999 ODIs so far, India won 518 games and lost 431 while 9 games ended in a tie.
However, India faced a torrid time in limited-overs cricket of late as they were whitewashed in the 3-match ODI series in South Africa. They were also knocked out in the group stage of the T20 World Cup. They lost the previous three ODI series outside Asia against New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa.
It will be interesting to see how coach Rahul Dravid manages the resources as India is preparing for the T20 World Cup 2022 to be held in Australia at the end of this year.
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