Injured Rohit out of Australia tour; Shubman in ODI, Test squads

New Delhi, October 26

India left out the injured duo of opener Rohit Sharma and quick Ishant Sharma from the Test and limited-overs squads for their upcoming tour of Australia but will continue to monitor their progress, the cricket board (BCCI) said today.

Ishant has been ruled out of remainder of the ongoing IPL in the UAE after suffering an abdominal muscle tear earlier in the tournament. Rohit, who captains defending champions Mumbai Indians, has also missed the last two IPL matches with a hamstring injury. “The BCCI medical team will continue to monitor the progress of Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.

2nd Test opener?

Limited-overs stalwart Rohit has reinvented himself as a Test opener and his injury creates uncertainty around who would partner Mayank Agarwal at the top of the batting order in the four-Test series. India have named Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul and Shubman Gill in the Test squad and one of them could land the role should Rohit fail to recover.

Rahul keeper in T20, ODI

Uncapped fast bowler Mohammed Siraj was also named in the 18-member Test squad, which contains two wicketkeepers in Wriddhiman Saha and Rishabh Pant. Pant was omitted from limited-overs squads where Rahul was preferred.

Four additional bowlers — Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi, Ishan Porel and T Natarajan — will accompany the team on the tour.

India are scheduled to play four Test matches in December-January, preceded by three ODI and as many T20I matches, though the exact itinerary is yet to be finalised.

The Virat Kohli-led side, who recorded India’s first ever Test series victory in Australia last year, are scheduled to quarantine in Sydney next month. — Reuters

Indian squads

T20I: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (vice-captain & wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy

ODI: Kohli (captain), Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Rahul (vice-captain & wicketkeeper), Iyer, Pandey, Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Jadeja, Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bumrah, Shami, Saini, Shardul Thakur

Test: Kohli (captain), Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Bumrah, Shami, Umesh Yadav, Saini, Kuldeep, Jadeja, R Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj

Shastri and coaching staff arrive in UAE

Dubai: Indian men’s cricket team’s head coach Ravi Shastri and his support staff have arrived in Dubai and entered the bio-bubble as they get ready for the team’s two-month tour of Australia. Shastri, batting coach Vikram Rathour, bowling coach Bharath Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar have reached Dubai. “They are now in isolation. There is a separate bio-bubble for Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari,” a BCCI source said. pti