Yuvraj Singh, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were the notable absentees from India’s limited overs squad for the tour of Sri Lanka. Fast bowlers Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav have also been left out from the team of 15 announced by the BCCI on Sunday.
India are set to play five One Day Internationals and one Twenty20 International, starting August 20, under the captaincy of Virat Kohli.
Yuvraj was part of the team during the tour of West Indies last month, but missed out after playing the first three ODIs, due to an injury. Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant, who were also part of the squad in that tour, have been left out as well.
A senior BCCI official, who is privy to selection policy said that Yuvraj is no longer in contention for the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales, reported PTI.
“His batting has lost sting. He rarely bowls and his fielding has gone down a few notches. If we have to prepare a team for 2019 World Cup, we had to take a call now. In case of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, we still don’t have replacement but Yuvraj’s place has multiple contenders,” the official, who can’t come on record told PTI on Sunday.
A two-time World Cup winner and one of India’s finest limited overs exponent, the 35 year old Yuvraj’s place was always under the scanner. After a 50 against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy opener, Yuvraj struggled in his last seven ODI innings fetched him only 162 runs.
Reshuffle
Another player dropped from the squad that went to West Indies is young keeper-batsman Pant, who has been replaced by KL Rahul, who is also a decent glovesman. Kedar Jadhav can also keep wickets. Karthik, who did a decent job in the West Indies was also dropped since he was originally picked as Manish Pandey’s replacement in the Champions Trophy squad.
The national selection committee decided to rest all senior bowlers. Jasprit Bumrah makes a comeback after much needed rest while rookie Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur has also been included in the side.
The spin department will be relatively young with left- arm spinner Axar Patel and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal to support chinaman Kuldeep Yadav.
Pandey has been recalled after leading the side to tri-nation series win in South Africa. He scored 307 runs in five games and was dismissed only once.
Another significant announcement was the appointment of Rohit Sharma as the vice-captain of the team.
The team in full:
Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma (vice captain), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Ajinkya Rahane, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur.
