By 
Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant have been excluded in both T20I and ODI squads as India starts their home season with a white-ball series against Sri Lanka in the coming year, on January 3.
As per a report, both Bumrah and Jadeja were fit and available for selection for the upcoming Sri Lanka series. However, the Chetan Sharma-led selection committee which announced the squad on Tuesday decided not to rush them back again into the national team.
“They want to simulate training for him that replicates the workload of a proper match, and see how he holds up before he is brought back to international cricket,” said the report on Bumrah, who has been out of the team since September when his back injury reoccurred during T20Is against Australia.
Jadeja, on the other hand, was initially named in the ODI and Test squads for the Bangladesh tour. However, he was later withdrawn from both squads before the start of the series as he was yet to recover from his knee surgery which took place in September. “The selectors now want to see him in match simulation just to be sure of his match fitness,” added the report.
Meanwhile, The BCCI has sent Pant to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to work on two-week knee-strengthening rehab before the four-match Test series against Australia.
Since wicketkeepers have to crouch a lot, the BCCI medical team has recommended a strengthening and conditioning session for Pant as he will play a massive role in Border Gavaskar Trophy. His S&C session has been slotted for early New Year (Jan 3-Jan 15). Hence he is not picked for this series.
“The team management feels he will have a key role to play in the Tests, and needs this housekeeping break after playing 44 internationals this year,” further said the report. India has to win three of four Tests against Australia to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final for the second successive time.
India’s regular skipper Rohit Sharma, who has been out of action after injuring his thumb while fielding in the second ODI against Bangladesh, has started batting in the nets. He is expected to be fully fit by the end of the first week of January, before the start of the ODI series against Sri Lanka, making him unavailable for the T20I series starting on January 3 in Mumbai.
On the other hand, KL Rahul and former India captain Virat Kohli have been rested from the T20I series after playing in the full tour of Bangladesh. Though neither of them asked for the break, the selectors felt they needed the rest.
Another injury concern for India going into 2023, which is an ODI World Cup year, is the unavailability of Prasidh Krishna who is yet to recover from his back injury. With his height, pace and hard lengths, he was seen as the enforcer for ODIs in India.
Prasidh sustained a back injury on the eve of India A’s series against New Zealand in September, and the report said the pacer is yet to recover from it. Veteran Mohammed Shami is back in ODIs after missing the tour of Bangladesh due to a shoulder injury, while Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik have been named in the ODI squad as well.
Deepak Chahar is yet to recover from the injury he sustained during the Bangladesh tour, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s name was not discussed at all, which gives a sign that he has been dropped.
India’s Injury List:
- Deepak Chahar (Hamstring)
- Prasidh Krishna (Back)
- Mohammad Shami (Shoulder)
- Ravindra Jadeja (Knee – fit now)
- Jasprit Bumrah (Back – fit now)
- Rohit Sharma (Thumb)
- Rishabh Pant (Knee)
Shreyas Iyer and Mohammed Siraj have been rested from the T20I series and will be back in action for the ODI series starting from January 10.
India’s squad for Sri Lanka T20Is: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (VC), Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi and Mukesh Kumar.
India’s squad for Sri Lanka ODIs: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh.
Comments