The newly elected selection committee of BCCI met for the first time on Thursday and announced a very promising squad for the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand.
Interestingly, Yuvraj Singh wasn’t picked and many young players including Punjab’s Mandeep Singh have been given a chance.
From India’s previous ODI series – a tour of Zimbabwe in June, featuring five uncapped players – seven players have been dropped: Ambati Rayudu, Faiz Fazal, Rishi Dhawan, Barinder Sran, Jaydev Unadkat, Yuzvendra Chahal and Karun Nair. From that squad, Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni and Jasprit Bumrah have been retained.
Former Indian fast bowler and the chairman of selection committee VSK Prasad spoke in detail about the team selection.
“Mandeep has played well in his brief chances with India in Zimbabwe and did exceptionally well as opener for India A in Australia, where I was present. He did well against players with international experience such as Kane Richardson and Marcus Stoinis,” said Prasad, who played 17 ODIs and six Tests between May 1998 and January 2000. “Suresh Raina has been picked because he offers a good bowling option and with several youngster in the team he offers experience. I was also very impressed by Hardik Pandya, who did excellently in all formats in Australia.”
ODI squad: MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Mandeep Singh, Pandey, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Jayant Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Amit Mishra
