The BCCI, in a surprising move on Monday, October 31, 2022, announced the Indian squad for the upcoming tours of New Zealand and Bangladesh which will happen post the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022.
The Indian team is slated to tour Bangladesh for three ODIs and two Tests, which will be part of the ICC World Test Championship 2023. The three ODIs will be played on December 4, 7, and 10 in Dhaka.
The first Test will be played from December 14-18 in Chattogram and the teams will return to Dhaka for the second Test which will be held from December 22-26.
The Bangladesh tour will begin from December 4 onwards and sees the inclusion of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul in both formats as they have been rested from the New Zealand tour. The only new face in the India ODI squad is of UP’s left-arm seamer Yash Dayal.
One exclusion that was kind of expected was that of Jasprit Bumrah, who is in NCA rehabilitating from his stress reaction to his back which kept him out of the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. BCCI chief selector Chetan Sharma gave an update on his fitness situation.
BAN v IND 2022: BCCI announces India’s ODI and Test squads for upcoming Bangladesh tour
He said: "I always speak about managing the players. Workload management is something we follow very closely. We tried to hurry up with Jasprit Bumrah when the World Cup was approaching and look at what happened, we are without Jasprit Bumrah in the World Cup. The NCA team and the medical team is looking after him very well and he will definitely be part and parcel of the team very soon, definitely against Australia. But against Bangladesh we were a little cautious with Jasprit Bumrah, we tried to not repeat what we did earlier.
"There is a reason behind resting players, the selectors don't enjoy changing teams and captains. But considering the volume of cricket and the load management of players, we have to keep looking after their bodies. At the end of the day, they are human. But he [Bumrah] will be back soon, there are good teams working with him and I'm hopeful that he'll start playing for India soon."
Two prominent names from the Indian Test scene were also missing out in the squad, middle order batters Hanuma Vihari and former vice-captain and occasional captain Ajinkya Rahane.
Chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma talked about Vihari’s exclusion and attributed a packed middle order as the reason for the same.
He said: "There were a lot of discussions about Hanuma. Our middle order at this time is packed, if you talk about the eleven with Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli (in the middle order), and Shubman Gill obviously is in the scheme of things. Hanuma is also in the scheme of things but sometimes you miss out.
"It's not like there's something wrong with this player but according to the combination, conditions and wickets in Bangladesh...the selectors spoke about it, this is your formation and you have to see who are the players who feature in the eleven. So that is the reason Hanuma missed out. He was there in the side and he'll definitely come back very soon."
On the other hand, when asked about Ajinkya Rahane, Sharma justified his exclusion and said: "The doors are always open for those who perform. Cheteshwar Pujara performed and he is there (in the team). Ajinkya Rahane is trying hard, and also scored some runs, but to return to the team he has to score more runs. And he knows that, he's in constant touch with the selection committee.
The Ranji Trophy is coming up and Vijay Hazare is also there. Let's hope that he performs well, the doors are always open for those who perform. If you look at the middle order and how packed it is, even Hanuma Vihari doesn't have a place. So to break into this, the kind of performance that is required, the selectors don't have to tell Ajinkya about it. He understands that. He is a great player, played 90-odd Test matches and he knows how to get into the team.”
India ODI squad for Bangladesh tour: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, W Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Yash Dayal
India Test squad for Bangladesh tour: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav.
(Cricbuzz inputs)
