Board of Cricket Control of India announced a 16-member squad for the first three ODI’s against Australia commencing from September 17. Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav made a comeback to the squad after being rested from Sri Lanka series whereas the spin duo of Ashwin and Jadeja were still given a break.
The selectors have retained the core team that beat Sri Lanka 5-0 in the ODI series last month. The only omission was the Mumbai pace bowler Shardul Thakur who made his ODI debut in the Sri Lanka series.
Ashwin has been playing county cricket in England and Jadeja has been rested for the test series in Sri Lanka last month. The selectors once again showed their confidence in the youngsters after their clinical performance in the island.
India’s chief selector MSK Prasad in a press release said, “The team for the three ODIs against Australia has been selected in line with the rotation policy of the Board and accordingly R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been rested,”
Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav made into the 16-member squad after missing out from the Sri Lanka ODI series. Both the Pacers were outstanding in the test series which defeated Sri Lanka 3-0.
“The team’s performance during the Sri Lanka tour was outstanding and players like Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal, who performed very well, are being given an extended run and this will, in turn, supplement our approach, to build strong reserve strength, as we prepare for forthcoming tours,” he further added.
India has won their last five bilateral series, while they last lost a series against Sri Lanka in the 2015-16 season.
The men in blue will play five ODI Internationals against Australia followed by three T-20s. Chennai, Kolkata, Indore, Bengaluru, and Nagpur will host the ODIs respectively while the T20Is will be held in Ranchi, Guwahati, and Hyderabad.
Full Squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.
