Sports Desk
India captain Virat Kohli will return back to India after the first Test against Australia in Adelaide while senior batsman Rohit Sharma has been named in the Test squad. The Board of Control of Cricket India (BCCI) has granted leave to Kohli due to the birth of his first child in January 2021, however, he will feature in ODI and Test series.
“Given the strict biosecurity requirements that require all international visitors to complete two weeks of hard quarantine upon their arrival in Australia, it’s not possible for Kohli to fly home for the birth and then return to take further part in the series,” Cricket Australia said in a statement.
Rohit, who was not part of the squad initially, will miss the T20I and ODI series, starting later this month, due to a recent hamstring injury but will be part of the Test series. The Selection Committee has added Sanju Samson as an additional wicket-keeper to India’s ODI squad while uncapped spinner Varun Chakravarthy has been ruled out of the T20I series owing to a shoulder injury. Pacer Thangarasu Natarajan as a replacement. It must be noted that India and Australia are scheduled to play three ODIs, three T20Is, and the four-Tests from November 27 in Sydney.
Updated squads:
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.
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).
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.
