The Board of Control for Cricket of India (BCCI) has announced the squad for the historic one-off Test match against Afghanistan and with Virat Kohli away, Ajinkya Rahane will lead the Indian side. This will be a historic match as Afghanistan play their maiden International Test match against India.
BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary on Tuesday announced the 15-member squad which also included KL Rahul, Karun Nair and Shardul Thakur.
Rahane was named as captain after regular skipper Virat Kohli decided to give the Test match a miss and rather play for Surrey in County Cricket in order to prepare for the tour of England, starting in July.
The 26-year-old Nair, who has replaced Kohli in the squad, is India's second triple centurion in Test cricket after Virender Sehwag. He has scored 612 runs for his state this Ranji season.
Among others who have been excluded from the squad to face Afghanistan are Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Meanwhile, the BCCI also announced the squads for T20Is against Ireland and England as well as the ODI team for England.
Veteran Suresh Raina and wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik were named in the squads alongside young guns Washington Sundar and Siddarth Kaul.
In a surprising move, Rahane was dropped from the ODI squad against England while the selectors recalled Ambati Rayudu, who last played on ODI in June 2016. Rayudu has been in terrific form for Chennai Super Kings in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League.
India's squad for Afghanistan Test: Ajinkya Rahane (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Shardul Thakur
India T20s squad for Ireland, England: Virat Kohli (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav,Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav
India ODI squad against England: Virat Kohli (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Siddarth Kaul, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
