India have left out captain Virat Kohli for the three Twenty20 internationals against Bangladesh starting next month, but he will return for two Tests between the South Asian neighbours as the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the squads on Thursday.
Limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma will stand in as the skipper for the T20I series. Wicketkeeper Sanju Samson and all-rounder Shivam Dube earned call-ups.
While Samson has played a solitary T20I for India back in 2015 against Zimabwe, Mumbai’s Dube is a part of the national setup for the first time after impressing at the Vijay Hazare Trophy (domestic 50-over-a-side tournament).
As was expected, there is still no sign of former captain MS Dhoni, who has not played a game since the World Cup semi-final in July.
Meanwhile, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was back in the limited-overs fold after a break but Bhuvneshwar Kumar continues to stay out of the side after not featuring against South Africa. Pacer Navdeep Saini missed out too after making his debut in West Indies and later featuring at home against Proteas.
There were no surprises in the Test squad after a thumping whitewash against South Africa recently. Pace ace Jasprit Bumrah continues to recover from his back injury as is all-rounder Hardik Pandya. Shahbaz Nadeem, who made a last-minute debut in Ranchi, has been left out with Kuldeep Yadav retaining his place in the side.
Bangladesh had threatened to call off the tour over a domestic pay dispute, but the national board and players resolved their differences late Wednesday.
The white-ball leg starts in Delhi on November 2, the second T20I is on November 7 in Rajkot and the third on November 9 in Nagpur.
Kohli, described as the “most important man” in Indian cricket by new board president Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday, will captain the side in the Test series starting November 14 in Indore.
The Test squad is essentially the same that swept South Africa 3-0 in a series that ended this week. That gave India a world record 11th straight home Test series triumph.
T20I squad: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shivam Dube, Shardul Thakur
Test squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant.
More to follow
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