3 surprising inclusions in India's T20 squad against England

Recently, BCCI selected the Indian team for the ODI and T20 leg of the England tour which begins in July. It is the most important tour in this season as the Indian team have a lot to prove in overseas conditions.

The importance of the England tour can be assessed from the fact that BCCI has sent a number of players to play in the English county to acclimatize to the pitches and to the weather in England as they want to leave no stone unturned to ensure India's victory in the Test series.

The ODI and T20 series also have an added importance this time as the next World Cup will be played in England in 2019 and the Indian team would be looking to try out different combinations in the series to see which suits them the best in those conditions.

IPL is underway now and a number of Indian hopefuls have performed pretty well in the competition. While some of the IPL performers have been given a place in the Indian squad, the other performers have been overlooked for the underperforming regulars in the Indian team. Let's have a look at the players who should consider themselves lucky to be in the Indian squad.

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Manish Pandey

Manish Pandey was bought in this year's auction for a huge price by Sunrisers Hyderabad. He was paid such a huge price because Hyderabad team management considered him to be the most important batsman of the team in the Middle order and sought to build a team around him.

His performance though has been poor, to say the least. He has been having a horrible run this year as he has scored just 184 runs in 10 matches at a paltry average of 23 and a strike rate of 112.

Pandey has scored two fifties but both have come at a strike rate of close to 100. In both the innings, he struggled to reach the half-century mark and in one of those innings, his slow start was the reason for Hyderabad losing the match.

Pandey has been in poor form as he has been unable to time the ball properly. With the likes of Rayudu, Pant, Iyer performing in the IPL, Pandey should definitely consider himself lucky to be selected ahead of these players.

Siddarth Kaul

Kaul has been unimpressive throughout the season with the exception of IPL

Siddarth Kaul has been the leading bowler of the Sunrisers Hyderabad side in the absence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a few games and has performed pretty well in the competition. He has been selected in the Indian team solely on the basis of IPL

Kaul's performance in IPL though has overshadowed his performance in the domestic circuit. He hasn't performed to his ability in both the Ranji trophy as well as in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy.

While his selection can be justified by his IPL performance, it is not ideal to look at IPL alone as the sole indicator of a player's ability. A number of bowlers have performed in both the domestic competitions as well as in the IPL for a consistent period of time and they have been overlooked for him.

Suresh Raina

Raina will be looking to cement his place in the Indian side

Suresh Raina made a comeback into International cricket after a gap of close to a year in the South African series this year. He fared decently in that series and it was expected that he had sealed his spot in the Indian team in the shortest format of the game.

However, the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League has changed the thing upside down for this UP man. He has had a poor IPL scoring just 261 runs in 9 matches. Though he has a pretty decent average of 37 this year his impact hasn't yet been felt in IPL.

He hasn't won matches for his side like he used to do in the previous editions. He is an extremely capable player but he hasn't been able to perform this year. Having made a comeback to the Indian team in the previous series against South Africa one would have expected him to secure his place in the Indian team in this IPL but it has been the exact opposite.

Players like Iyer, Samson, Pant, and Rayudu performing pretty well in IPL, it seems a surprise that he has been selected in the side ahead of all these players.