Kolkata: Veteran Dinesh Karthik makes a comeback to the Indian ODI team after the BCCI named the 15-member squad against New Zealand on October 14.
Left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan and pacer Shardul Thakur has also been included in the team while KL Rahul, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav have been left out of the squad. Also, much like the other series, the Indian team would be without the services of two of it’s best spinners-Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
Dinesh Karthik last game in this format for India was during the series against West Indies. However, he wasn’t named in the squads for the series against Sri Lanka and Australia. He was recalled to the T20I team for the three-match T20I series against Australia but didn’t get a game.
KL Rahul however faced the axe after consecutive failures during the Sri Lanka series. The Karnataka batsman despite being a part of the squad failed to get a game against Australia in the five-match ODI series.
Dhawan, who missed the ODI series would now return to the top of the order. In his absence, Ajinkya Rahane has done exceptionally well, notching up four consecutive fifty-plus scores and has justified his claim for a place in playing XI. Hence, it would be interesting to see how the team management decides to go about, giving both these players chances to prove themselves.
On the bowling front, pacers Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav have been left out. The duo played one game against Australia in the ODI series and have been ignored for this series.
Youngster Shardul Thakur makes a return to the team after he failed to make it to the squad against Australia. He made his debut against Sri Lanka in Colombo and has also done well for India A in the series against New Zealand A in Vijayawada.
The first game of the three-match ODI series would be played in Mumbai on October 22 followed by the final two in Pune and Kanpur respectively.
Squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur.