Iyer, Siraj picked for T20Is, Ishant in Tests

The All India Senior Selection Committee announced the Team India squad for the T20I series against NZ and the first two Tests against Sri Lanka starting November 16.

Ishant Sharma, owing to his fiery spells in the Ranji Trophy, has rolled back to the national side.

 

The All India Senior Selection Committee, on Monday, named the squad for the three-match T20I series — against New Zealand — and the first two Test matches against Sri Lanka.

The panel also picked the squad (Board President’s XI) for the two-day warm-up tie against Sri Lanka starting November 11.

Mumbai batsman Shreyas Iyer has finally booked his berth , albeit in the T20I squad, and will be keen for a dream debut. The 22-year-old has been in the reckoning for a while, thanks to his heroics in domestic cricket and the IPL.

Read: Iyer takes Kiwis to the cleaners

Hyderabad bowler Mohammed Siraj is another rookie picked in the squad. The right-arm pacer shot to fame in the IPL earlier this yea r, when he donned the Sunrisers Hyderabad jersey, claiming 10 wickets in six outings. Recently, he turned out for India A (against New Zealand A) in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

Dinesh Karthik, who is currently in the ODI squad, has been retained for the T20I series, while K.L. Rahul — who scored 68 in the warm-up match for Board President’s XI against the Kiwis — will make a return.

The T20I series will also mark senior pro Ashish Nehra’s retirement. He will hang up his boots after the first T20I in New Delhi on November 1.

The selectors have more or less retained the same Test squad that went to Sri Lanka, but Ishant Sharma — owing to his fiery spells in the Ranji Trophy (5/38 and 3/20) against Assam and Railways respectively — has rolled back to the national side.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have not been considered for the T20I series, but they have kept their place in the Test squad. Murali Vijay will make a return in whites too.

 

T20Isquad against New Zealand:

Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), K.L. Rahul, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Mohammed Siraj.

Board President XI for warm-up tie against Sri Lanka:

Naman Ojha (captain/wk), Sanju Samson, Jiwanjot Singh, B. Sandeep, Tanmay Agarwal, Abhishek Gupta, Rohan Prem, Akash Bhandari, Jalaj Saxena, C.V. Milind, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, Ravi Kiran.

Test squad for first two Test matches against Sri Lanka:

Virat Kohli (captain), K.L. Rahul, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma.