BCCI on Friday evening announced a jumbo squad for Indian cricket team’s upcoming tour of the UK where they will six Test matches starting with the final of the inaugural ICC World Championship followed by five-match series vs England.
While the usual suspects have made the cut in the 20-man squad, there were few surprise exclusions. As Australian tour taught us the importance of having reserved players considering the coronavirus pandemic, BCCI also named four standby players as well and managed to spring a surprise in it too.
Let’s take a look at the full squad first or those who are in
Batters: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli Ajinkya Rahane Hanuma Vihari and KL Rahul (subject to fitness clearance)
Allrounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin
Wicketkeepers: Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Wriddhiman Saha ( subject to fitness clearance).
Bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed. Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Axar Patel
Standby Players: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Arzan Nagwaswalla
Now those who were part of the both or either of previous two Test series but were ignored
Batters: Prithvi Shaw
Allrounders: Hardik Pandya
Bowlers: Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, T Natarajan
Among those who missed the bus, Shaw, Natarajan and Saini were not part of India’s last Test assignment. However, Pandya and Kuldeep both were part of it even though the former didn’t get a game. While the BCCI hasn’t announced any official reason for those who were snubbed, expect an answer soon.
India will first play New Zealand in Southampton to decide the first ever world champion of the Test format. After that, they will be taking on England in a five-match series starting August 4.
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