Rishabh Pant has been handed a golden opportunity to showcase his talents ahead of the World Cup after he was named in India’s limited-overs squads to face Australia, with fellow wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik missing out.
Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and KL Rahul will also return to the India line-up for both the ODIs and T20I matches, while Mumbai Indians’ leg-spinner Mayank Markande is set to make his T20I debut at the expense of Kuldeep Yadav.
After India triumphed 2-1 in the Test and ODI series played in Australia, the two teams are set to resume battle in two T20Is and five ODIs commencing February 24.
”Prior to this we had series in New Zealand and Australia, where Karthik was chosen, because Rishabh played four Test matches,” Prasad said. “So we wanted him to get a good break, so he had a 20 days’ break, and he played a couple of one-day matches against England Lions, in which he did extremely well. Then we sent him to the T20 matches (in New Zealand). So we want to give him a few ODIs also before taking a final call.”
Fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, meanwhile, has only been selected for the final three matches of the ODI leg.
T20 squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Vijay Shankar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Sidharth Kaul, Mayank Markande
ODI squad for first two games: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Vijay Shankar, Rishabh Pant, Siddharth Kaul, KL Rahul
ODI squad for remaining three games: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Vijay Shankar, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant
