Jasprit Bumrah and Shikhar Dhawan have been picked to the Indian teams, for the Twenty20 Internationals against Sri Lanka and the One-Day Internationals against Australia, to be played in January.
However, in-form opener and vice-captain Rohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami have been rested for the three-match series against Sri Lanka, beginning on January 5.
Bumrah, who had suffered a stress fracture, is reportedly fit enough to test his recovery in Gujarat’s forthcoming Ranji Trophy match.
According to selection committee chairman M.S.K. Prasad, “Sanju Samson will be the back-up opener in the T20 series. Against Australia, we have all three openers in the team — Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and K.L. Rahul.”
Seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar are out of the reckoning on account of injuries.
“Deepak, who did well in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, aggravated his back injury in the second ODI in Visakhapatnam,” said Prasad.
Pandya issue
On the availability of all-rounder Hardik Pandya, the chief selector said they would test him in the third week of January for a possible chance to figure in the series against New Zealand from January 24.
Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, who will be the 16th member for the ODI series against Australia, and Khaleel Ahmed will continue to be in the scheme of things for the season.
India Squad (T20Is against Sri Lanka): Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Manish Pandey, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson.
India Squad (ODI vs Australia): Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah.
