Bengaluru: Karun Nair makes a comeback; Rohit dropped, Bhuvi, Bumrah rested.
Virat Kohli’s much-hyped county stint paved the way for Karun Nair’s comeback even as senior batsman Rohit Sharma was dropped from the 15-strong Indian squad announced here on Tuesday for the historic one-off Test against Afghanistan next month.
Vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane will lead the team in Kohli’s absence, the selection committee, led by MSK Prasad, announced after a meeting in which multiple squads were picked. Rahane, however, has been dropped from the ODI squad for England tour. He was part of India’s 50-over squad during the South Africa tour.
Ambati Rayudu and KL Rahul were notable comebacks in the ODI squad for the England tour, while young speedster Siddarth Kaul was rewarded with the ODI and T20 berths against Ireland and England for his consistent IPL performance.
Nair, only the second Indian to score a triple-century, is making a comeback after 14 months. The 26-year-old Nair scored 612 runs for Karnataka in the last Ranji Trophy with three hundreds. Nair has played six Test matches, scoring 374 runs, but after his 303 against England at Chennai, his sequence of scores read 26, 0, 23 and 5.
Kohli has been named captain for the two-match T20 series against Ireland. Interestingly, Surrey had officially announced that Kohli would be available for the entire month of June, but the two T20 Internationals are scheduled for June 27 and 29. Surrey’s county game against Yorkshire at Scarborough is scheduled from June 25-28.
“Except Virat, all Test specialists are playing. He is going for a cause as he wants to come well prepared for the England Test series. He is very keen to do well in English conditions. It is a great opportunity for us to win the series,” chief selector Prasad said at a media conference.
Pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested. While BCCI allowed Kohli to prepare for the England Tests by playing county cricket, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma have come back after their month-long stints at Yorkshire and Sussex, respectively.