IND vs AUS: Rohit Sharma added to Test squad, rested for ODIs and T20Is to help recover fitness
Ishant Sharma, however, continues to recover while BCCI's medical team will take a call on Wriddhiman Saha's availability later.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday decided to rest Rohit Sharma for the ODI and T20I series in Australia in a bid to regain full fitness for the Test series for which he has been included. Ishant Sharma, however, continues to recover while BCCI's medical team will take a call on Wriddhiman Saha's availability later.
"The BCCI Medical Team has been monitoring Rohit Sharma’s fitness and has briefed All-India Senior Selection Committee on the same. In consultation with Mr Sharma, it has been decided to rest him for the ODIs and T20Is in Australia to regain full fitness and he has been included in India’s Test squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy," BCCI released a statement.
The All-India Senior Selection Committee met on Sunday to announce the replacements and make changes to the three squads for the Australia tour after receiving injury reports and updates from the BCCI Medical Team.
The four-Test matches against Australia will be held in Adelaide (Day-Night Test, December 17-21), Melbourne (Dec 26-30), Sydney (Jan 7-11, 2021) and Brisbane (Jan 15-19).
BCCI's medical team is yet to confirm the availability of Ishant, who "has been undergoing his rehab at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru." He will be added to the Test squad on full recovery.
Wriddhiman, on the other hand, incurred a hamstring tear last week ahead of the IPL 2020 playoffs. BCCI will take a call on his availability later.
Meanwhile, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, who was one of the four additional bowlers that BCCI named as part of the Indian contingent for the Australia tour, "will not be able to travel to Australia as he is still working with the medical team on his bowling workload management."
The revised squads are as below:
Team India T20I squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (vice-captain and wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, T Natarajan.
Team India ODI squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (vice-captain & wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper).
Team India Test squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Mohd. Siraj.