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India squad for Australia tour announced: Shreyas Iyer ODI vice-captain, Kohli and Rohit back; Ravindra Jadeja dropped
Shubman Gill will lead India's ODI team for the Australia tour. Key players Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli return, while Ravindra Jadeja was dropped.
Shubman Gill, India's Test captain, was announced as the captain of the ODI side for the Australia tour on Saturday (September 4), marking a major shift in Indian cricket which began earlier this year when Gill replaced Rohit Sharma as the Test skipper after the latter announced his retirement from red-ball cricket. BCCI's chairman of selectors, Ajit Agarkar, made the announcement in a press conference minutes after India beat West Indies in the first Test in Ahmedabad.
Shreyas Iyer was elevated as the vice-captain of the ODI side. He, however, remained out of the T20I side.
India will play three ODIs in Australia starting October 19 at Perth, followed by a five-match T20I series starting October 29 at Canberra.
Shubman Gill was the vice-captain of India's Champions Trophy-winning squad - India's last ODI assignment - which was led by Rohit Sharma.
Rohit, the captain of that side, returned to the ODI set-up but only as a player. Another stalwart, Virat Kohli, too, was an automatic choice for the ODI side.
Both Rohit and Kohli are only available for ODIs after announcing their retirements from T20Is and Tests.
Agarkar mentioned that Rohit was communicated about the decision to remove him as the ODI captain despite leading India to the Champions Trophy title.
Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was rested from the three-match ODI series but he was included for the five T20Is, keeping next year's World Cup in mind.
Among other notable absentees were all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant. Pandya was ruled out of the Australia tour with an injury he sustained during the last group-stage match against Sri Lanka, while Pant is still nursing his fractured foot.
Jadeja, however, was dropped from the side as the selectors decided to go with Axar Patel as their lead spin-bowling all-rounder. Washington Sundar also found himself back in the ODI setup and so did opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. Agarkar, however, made it clear that Rohit will open with Gill and Jaiswal is touring as a backup opener.
Hardik Pandya was replaced by Nitish Kumar Reddy in the ODI and T20I squads. With Rishabh Pant out with an injury, KL Rahul is guaranteed to keep wickets in ODIs. Dhruv Jurel pipped Sanju Samson for the backup keeper's spot because the selectors thought Jurel was better suited to bat in the middle-order than the Rajasthan Royals captain in 50-over cricket.
There were no major changes in the T20I squad that won the Asia Cup recently.
India’s ODI squad for Australia tour: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.
India’s T20I squad for Australia tour: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.
