India vs West Indies: Rohit Sharma returns to lead, Ravi Bishnoi called up for both ODIs and T20Is

India’s white-ball captain Rohit Sharma is set for his return from injury as he was named the skipper for 18-member squads for the upcoming Twenty20 series as well as One Day International series against the West Indies, while senior wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav also returned to the white-ball set up.

Young leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi was on Wednesday rewarded with an India senior team call-up for both the ODI and T20I squads too as India rejigged their bowling unit. Kuldeep only features in the ODI squad.

Bishnoi, who turned heads during the 2020 U19 World Cup in South Africa, has been one of the recent finds of the Indian Premier League. After impressing in the chances he got at Punjab, he has been picked up by new franchise Lucknow Supergiants from the drafts for the upcoming season.

Former skipper Virat Kohli features in both squads. KL Rahul has been named as the vice captain.

Other notable additions to the ODI squad were Deepak Hooda and Washington Sundar (also in T20Is). Washington was expected to feature in South Africa too but missed out due to Covid-19.

IPL 2021 Purple Cap winner Harshal Patel, who featured in the home T20I series against New Zealand, also returns to the shortest format. Avesh Khan, who had a great season with Delhi Capitals, also features in ODI as well as T20I squads. He had also been named in the squad for the previous T20I series, but is yet to make his international debut.

From India’s 0-3 ODI series defeat against South Africa, the notable names missing were that of Ashwin Ravichandran and Jasprit Bumrah.

“Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami have been rested from the series. KL Rahul will be available from 2nd ODI onwards. Ravindra Jadeja is undergoing his final stage of recovery post his knee injury and will not be available for the ODIs and T20Is. Axar Patel will be available for the T20Is,” the BCCI said in a tweet.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar too has only been named in the T20I squad and left out for ODIs. Venkatesh Iyer, who played in a couple of ODIs, now features only in the T20I squad. Ishan Kishan too is missing from ODI squad that was named for South Africa series, but he does feature in the T20Is.

There was no explanation for Ashwin’s omission.

ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (vc), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan

T20I squad: Rohit Sharma(C), KL Rahul (vc), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel

Jayant Yadav and Navdeep Saini, who were late additions to the ODI squad in South Africa, do not feature in either squad.