Injured Rohit, Ishant omitted from India’s Australia tour squads

Mumbai - In the T20I squad, the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Sanju Samson have made their entry

KL Rahul, Navdeep Saini, and Mohammad Siraj have been included in India’s 18-member squad for the upcoming Test series against Australia.

In the T20I squad, the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Sanju Samson have made their entry while Shubman Gill and Manish Pandey have made their foray into the ODI squad.

The selection committee has also said that four additional bowlers - Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi, Ishan Porel, and T. Natarajan will be travelling with the Indian contingent for the Australia tour while the BCCI Medical Team will continue to monitor the progress of Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma.

KL Rahul is currently the Orange Cap holder as he is the leading run-scorer in the ongoing IPL while Shikhar Dhawan is at the second spot. Mohammad Shami is the second-highest wicket-taker so far in the ongoing IPL.

India and Australia will play three ODIs, three T20Is, and four Tests against each other. The Test series will be a part of the World Test Championship.

India and Australia are currently at the number one and two spots in the World Test Championship standings.

The last time India toured Australia, the Virat Kohli-led side managed to win their first Test series Down Under.

The BCCI has already made it clear that the whole unit will be first undergoing quarantine in a bio-secure bubble in UAE before heading to Australia. In fact, the Test players are set to come in once the national selectors announce the squad. Players for the three formats -- Tests, ODIs, and T20Is — will travel together as that will help maintain the bubble.

Sydney and Canberra will be hosting the white-ball leg of India’s tour of Australia as Cricket Australia and the New South Wales state government reached an agreement.

According to ESPN Cricinfo, Cricket Australia and the New South Wales state government knitted together a deal for Indian and Australian players returning from the Indian Premier League (IPL) to quarantine in Sydney and also being granted access to nearby training facilities.

NSW government gave its approval, confirming quarantine protocols, but it still requires final sign-off from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), ESPN Cricinfo reported.

Sydney Cricket Ground will play host to the first and second ODIs, slated to take place on November 27 and 29. The teams will then move to Canberra’s Manuka Oval for the third ODI and first T20I, to be played on December 1 and December 4.

For the final two T20Is, India and Australia will return to Sydney. The pink-ball Test is scheduled to be held at Adelaide Oval.

Melbourne will be the venue for Boxing Day, to be played between December 26-30, but Adelaide has also been kept as the backup option for the Boxing Day Test.

Adelaide will host the Boxing Day Test if the coronavirus pandemic poses any hindrance for the match from taking place at MCG. — ANI

Squads

Test: Virat Kohli (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Mohd. Siraj

ODI: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (vice-captain & wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur

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