India opener KL Rahul on Sunday kept his place in the Test team for the remaining two matches of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as the selectors announced an unchanged squad following the six-wicket win over Australia in Delhi.
With Shubman Gill warming the bench, Rahul’s scores so far in the series read 20, 17 and 1.
Interestingly, he was the designated vice-captain for the first two Tests against Australia but no deputy to Rohit Sharma has been named for the last two games.
Besides naming the Test squad, the four selectors, following the unceremonious exit of selection committee chief Chetan Sharma, also picked the team for the three ODIs against Australia beginning March 17.
Left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat is back in the Test team after leading Saurashtra to Ranji Trophy triumph. He is also there in the ODI squad.
No Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah, who is recovering from a back injury, continues to be out of the team.
The Telegraph had reported first on February 9 that Bumrah, who was left out for the first two Tests, would not be considered for the last two Tests as well against Australia.
With the 50-overs World Cup to be hosted by India later this year, the selectors do not want to take a risk with the pace spearhead.
India’s ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (Vice-captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Jaydev Unadkat.
Written with inputs from PTI
‘Frenetic batting’ leads to disaster
Australia captain Pat Cummins on Sunday. PTI photo
New Delhi: Allan Border and Matthew Hayden have lambasted Pat Cummins’s team for their second-innings collapse in the Delhi Test against India, where pre-determined sweep shots led to their downfall.
Former captain Border felt Australia panicked and none of the batters tried to defend. “I’m disappointed, I’m shell-shocked, I’m angry about the way we went about our work today,” Border said on Fox Cricket.
“It was panicky, frenetic batting. No one tried to get in there and stem the flow with some good defensive cricket.”
Former opener Hayden couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “I can’t believe what I’ve just witnessed… they’re world-class players, and they’ve got everything to win in this session, and everything to lose,” Hayden said during commentary on Fox Cricket. “It’s a disaster because they’ve gone way over the edge in terms of their aggressive play.”
Former batter Mike Hussey felt the current squad just blew the chance of keeping the series alive as India won the match by six wickets. “They will be bitterly disappointed. They were in front of this Test match — nine wickets in hand with a 60-odd run lead,” he said. “Unfortunately they just gave it away.”
PTI