Rohit Sharma Added to India’s Test Squad Against Australia, Virat Kohli Granted Paternity Leave; to Feature Only in First Test, T Natarajan and Sanju Samson Included for T20Is and ODIs Respectively

Rohit Sharma has been included in the Test team for India’s upcoming tour of India. The veteran Indian opener was omitted from all the squads earlier announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). However, he will now travel to Australia with the national team. Some more changes have been done in the squads. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) spinner Varun Chakravarthy is ruled out of the T20I team after sustaining a shoulder injury. Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer T Natarajan has replaced him. Team India Squad for Australia Tour 2020-21.

Apart from this, Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who’s expecting his first child, has been granted paternity leave and will return to India after the first Test match. Hence, Ajinkya Rahane is set to lead the team in the other three games.

Sanju Samson, who was initially picked in just T20I team, has also been added in the ODI side as a back-up wicket-keeper. While Wriddhiman Saha, who’s is under rehab, continues to be in the Test team and a call on his fitness is yet to be taken.

India T20I squad: Virat Kohli (Captain) (First Test Only), 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, T Natarajan.

India ODI squad: Virat Kohli (Captain) (First Test Only), 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, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper).

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, 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.

The tour will get underway with the first T20I match of November 27. Virat Kohli and Co have pleasant memories of the last visit down under. They won the ODI and Test series 2-1 while the T20I series was tied 1-1. However, Australia didn’t had Steve Smith and David Warner back then. Hence, the visitors will indeed face a much difficult challenge.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 09, 2020 04:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).