India squad for Zimbabwe and West Indies tours announced

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  • Fresh faces to join the Indian one-day team

    The Indian Selection Committee have selected their ODI and T20 teams for the upcoming tour to Zimbabwe as well as the Test line-up for the trip to the West Indies.

    While most of the big names in Indian cricket, including the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, have been rested for the Zimbabwe series, India are sending a full strength Test squad for their tour to the Caribbean starting in July.

    The Selection Committee, headed by Chairman Mr. Sandip Patil, decided to give opportunities to some new faces keeping in mind the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 and the 50-over World Cup in 2019.

    Some of the more experienced cricketers were left out – giving them a rare opportunity to catch a break after a hectic first-half to 2016 that saw them take part in the tour to Australia, the Asia Cup, the ICC World T20 and the IPL.

    Players who have performed considerably well in the opportunities they have got so far, for example: Manish Pandey, Ambati Rayudu, Mandeep Singh and Barinder Sran – will be making a comeback to the Indian team.

    Thakur's First-class Record

    • Matches: 37
    • Wickets: 133 @ 27.53
    • 5WI: 9
    • Best: 6/53

    Some of the new faces who have been rewarded for their good performances in domestic cricket include Yuzuvendra Chahal, Faiz Fazal, Karun Nair and KL Rahul.

    Fazal, who is a surprise inclusion, has been rewarded for his superlative domestic showings, having scored 127 for the Rest of India to win the 2015-16 Irani Cup for Mumbai as well as notching a century and a half-century in India A’s victory in the Deodhar Trophy.

    He scored 312 runs in the 2015-16 Vijay Hazare Trophy and 205 runs at the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy.

    Many of the other uncapped players like Yuzuvendra Chahal, Karun Nair and KL Rahul (who is yet to make his one-day debut) have been selected for their brilliant form in the ongoing edition of the IPL. The young side will be led by MS Dhoni.

    “No one has been rested. No one wrote to BCCI or called us (to say) they were not available or they should be rested,” Patil said.

    “It was the decision of the selection committee to pick a young side for Zimbabwe and another side for the West Indies.”

    For the tour to the Caribbean, India are sending a full-strength 17-member squad that will see the return of Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in whites. The only uncapped player in the team is Mumbai’s Shardul Thakur who has taken nearly ninety wickets in the previous two seasons of the Ranji Trophy.

    The Test team will be led by Virat Kohli, with Ajinkya Rahane named as his deputy. Wriddhiman Saha is the sole wicket-keeper in the side as KL Rahul is expected to double up as the back-up keeper.

    India are scheduled to play three ODIs and three T20s in Harare between June 11 and 22 which will be followed by four Tests against the West Indies in the months of July and August.

    ODI and T20 squad for Zimbabwe tour:

    MS Dhoni (capt & wk), KL Rahul, Faiz Fazal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Ambati Rayudu, Rishi Dhawan, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Barinder Sran, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Jaydev Unadkat, Yuzvendra Chahal

    India’s Test squad for WI tour:

    Virat Kohli (c), Murali Viay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), R Ahswin, Amit Mishra, R Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Stuart Binny, Bhuvneshwar Kumar

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