The national selectors have once again left out Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from the T20I squad for the upcoming home series against New Zealand.
KL Rahul is also not in the squad. The BCCI though has put his absence and that of Axar Patel from both the ODI and T20I squads versus New Zealand down to family commitments.
Hardik Pandya will continue to lead the T20I squad.
The new selection committee also picked Prithvi Shaw, who last played for India in July 2021, in the T20I squad.
Kuldeep Yadav, who was Man of the Match for his 3/51 in the second ODI against Sri Lanka on Thursday, is also back in the T20I squad. Harshal Patel has been axed.
With Rahul taking a break, India have called up KS Bharat as a second keeper alongside Kishan. In Axar’s absence, Bengal’s Shahbaz Ahmed has earned a call up for the ODIs.
The squads
⚫ ODIs: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan (wk), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat (wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik.
⚫ T20Is: Hardik Pandya (captain), Suryakumar Yadav (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Prithvi Shaw, Mukesh Kumar.
NZ clinch series
Karachi: Glenn Phillips smashed a quickfire half-century to guide New Zealand to a two-wicket victory over Pakistan in the third ODI on Friday and clinch the series 2-1.
Phillips scored an unbeaten 63 off 42 balls, hitting four fours and as many sixes, as New Zealand chased down a target of 281 with 11 balls left. Devon Conway (52) and captain Kane Williamson (53) also made telling contributions.
Pakistan opted to bat and scored 280/9, opener Fakhar Zaman top-scoring with 101 and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan making 77.
Tim Southee took 3/56 and Lockie Ferguson bagged 2/63.
Brief scores: Pak 280/9 in 50 (Fakhar Zaman 101, Md Rizwan 77; Tim Southee 3/56). NZ 281/8 in 48.1 (Glenn Phillips 63, Kane Williamson 53). NZ won by 2 wickets.
Reuters
