India's squad for West Indies tour announced; Kohli to lead in all formats

What’s the story?

The selection committee met on Sunday in Mumbai and finalized the teams for India’s tour to the West Indies during August and September. The meeting was presided over by MSK Prasad and Virat Kohli too was in attendance.

In case you didn’t know...

The Indian team and its composition has been under the scanner ever since they bowed out of the World Cup at the semi-final stage. Moreover, with the next World Cup set to take place in India, several were of the opinion that a new cycle in Indian cricket would commence with the Men In Blue’s Caribbean escapade.

The heart of the matter

The selectors named a strong T20I squad which also included recalls for several players. Virat Kohli is set to lead the side while Shikhar Dhawan has also been passed fit to take his place. KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant and Krunal Pandya are expected to form the middle order whereas the fast bowling department will be led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The other fast bowlers in the squad are Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar and Khaleel Ahmed.

The spinners in the squad are Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar and Washington Sundar with neither of Yuzvendra Chahal or Kuldeep Yadav making the cut.

Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested from the shortest form considering the enormous work-load they went through during the World Cup.

The ODI side was named on expected lines with Bumrah and Hardik the only players rested. Pant is primed to be the primary wicket-keeper in the 50-over format with Dinesh Karthik omitted. Additionally, the likes of Iyer and Pandey made a comeback into the ODI fold. As for the bowling department, Navdeep Saini earned his maiden ODI call-up whereas Khaleel too made the cut.

From the squad that featured at the World Cup, the players to miss out are MS Dhoni (sabbatical), Bumrah and Pandya (rest), Vijay Shankar and Karthik.

As for the Test side, Wriddhiman Saha made a return to the squad after battling injuries for the better part of 2018. Hanuma Vihari and Mayank Agarwal kept their places after a decent tour of Australia while Ajinkya Rahane was named as the vice-captain.

The Test pace bowling battery includes Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav. Kuldeep, Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin are the spinners in the squad.

Elsewhere in the squad, Rohit was retained along with KL Rahul.

Here is a look at the complete squads:

India’s squad for the Test series: Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (VC), Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, C Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (WK), Wriddhiman Saha (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav

India’s squad for the ODI series: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kedar Jadhav, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Navdeep Saini

India’s squad for the T20I series: Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (WK), Krunal Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Rahul Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini

What’s next?

India will clash swords with West Indies in all three formats with the T20 series taking center stage initially. The first game is scheduled to take place on the 3rd of August in Florida.

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