Yuvraj Singh is back in the ODI team after three years
India have announced their 15-man squad for the three ODIs and three T20I series against England, starting from the 15th of January. As was expected, Virat Kohli will take over as full-time captain in all three formats after MS Dhoni resigned from the post on Wednesday.
Shikhar Dhawan made a comeback to the team, after missing out on the ODI series against New Zealand as well as the Test series against England and joining him as his opening partner would be Ajinkya Rahane, who has been picked in the ODI squad.
Also back in the squad is Yuvraj Singh, who has not played an ODI since the 2013 South Africa tour and joining him in the pace bowling arsenal is Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.
As Yuvi scores 672 runs at 84 in 5 Ranji Trophy matches for Punjab. And Prasad didn’t stick to just throwing up the numbers in trying to justify his committee’s bold move.
“We should appreciate the way Yuvraj Singh has played in domestic cricket. All these days we thought he hasn’t played long innings. But he has scored a double-hundred. He scored 180 on the Lahli wicket,” he said.
Both R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who were rested for the limited-overs series against New Zealand, were included in both the squads. Amit Mishra was included in the ODI squad while Yuzvendra Chahal joined Ashwin and Jadeja in the T20I squad.
The 2019 World Cup is just over two years away now. And India have only 55 matches before their opening game. Their preparation starts now. With Kohli now at the helm, this is when they build a team that would be ready to challenge for the trophy in England. So are the selectors actually looking at Yuvraj, who will officially be 37 by then, as a serious part of their World Cup plans.
Rishabh Pant, who had such a superb time in the Ranji Trophy, got a maiden call-up to the senior side, picked in the T20I squad. Ashish Nehra, who was part of the Indian squad from the tour to Australia until the World T20 last year, also found a place in the T20I squad.
Suresh Raina, who was picked for the series against New Zealand, but could not play because of illness, also found a place in the T20I squad.
The Chairman also revealed the teams for the warm-up matches, to be played at the Cricket Club of India(CCI) on the 10th and 12th of January. MS Dhoni will be at the helm of affairs for the first of the two warm-up ties, while Ajinkya Rahane will lead the side in the second warm-up match.
The likes of Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Parvez Rasool among others have found a place in the squad for the first game while in the second game, the likes of Vijay Shankar, Vinay Kumar and Deepak Hooda have found a place.
BCCI revealed 12 players for warm-up matches on 10 jan: Ind A team for 1st warm-up tie: Shikhar, Mandeep, Rayudu, Yuvraj, Dhoni (capt), Pandya, Samson, Kuldeep, Chahal, Nehra, Mohit Sharma, S Kaul
Ind A team for 2nd warm-up tie: R Pant, A Rahane (capt), Raina, Hooda, Kishan, S Jackson, V Shankar, Nadeem, Rasool, V Kumar, Sangwan, Dinda
Team for 3 ODIs: Virat (C), MSD (wk), Rahul, Shikhar, Manish, Kedar, Yuvraj, Ajinkya, Pandya, Ashwin, Jadeja, Mishra, Bumrah, Bhuvi, Umesh
Extra cover: Yuvraj Singh believes he still has a lot to offer India
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