NEW DELHI, Feb 19: White-ball skipper Rohit Sharma was on Saturday officially named captain of the Indian Test team for the upcoming two-match series against Sri Lanka starting March 4. With this Rohit becomes all-formats captain like his predecessors Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni.
Senior batsmen Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, who are battling poor form, senior wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha and experienced pacer Ishant Sharma have been dropped from the test squad against Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka’s tour will begin with a three-match T20 series starting February 24 and will be followed by the five-day matches from March 4. Rookie Uttar Pradesh left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar was the only new face in the 18-member squad.
Ahead of the T20 series, the selection committee, headed by Chetan Sharma, decided to give Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant a break, while Shardul Thakur was rested for the entire Sri Lanka series. Meanwhile, Washington Sudar and KL Rahul were ruled out of the entire series while R. Ashwin will be available subject to his fitness. Axar Patel is still recovering and is expected to be fit only for the second Test.
“The selection committee deliberated a lot on Rahane and Pujara. We told them we will not consider them against Sri Lanka but doors are open for them. We told them to go and play Ranji Trophy,” Selection Committee chairman Chetan Sharma told reporters during a virtual press conference.
India Test squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, KS Bharat (wk), R Ashwin (fitness), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Saurabh Kumar.
India T20 squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Bhuveshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Mohammad Siraj, Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan.
(Manas Dasgupta)