Bumrah earns maiden Test call-up for South Africa tour
Jasprit Bumrah has earned a call-up to India’s Test squad for the three-match series in South Africa, which will begin in the first week of January next year.
The Indian selectors picked a 17-man squad on Monday in New Delhi, with all names along expected lines. Virat Kohli, who has been rested from both the One-Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals against Sri Lanka at home, will lead the Test side with Ajinkya Rahane as his deputy.
Parthiv Patel also returned to the side as the back-up wicketkeeper for Wriddhiman Saha, having given a good account of his form when he was picked during India’s long home Test season in 2016-17.
The openers – M Vijay, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan – along with Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma completed the batting set, while Hardik Pandya is the main all-rounder. Only two spinners were picked, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, while the seam-bowling attack wore a strong look with Bumrah joining the established foursome of Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma.
The selectors named a squad with a number of fresh faces for the T20I series against Sri Lanka.
Washington Sundar, the Tamil Nadu offspinning allrounder, Basil Thampi, the Kerala paceman, and Deepak Hooda, the Baroda batsman, were all rewarded for their performances, especially in the Indian Premier League, when the squad of 15 was named.
While the three of them have never been in an Indian squad before, Jaydev Unadkat, the vastly improved left-arm pacer from Saurashtra, has earned a recall after last turning out for India in his only T20I – apart from one Test and seven ODIs – in June 2016.
In Kohli’s absence, Rohit Sharma, who was named captain of the ODI team earlier, will lead the team in the three-match series, starting on December 20 in Cuttack, as well. Along with Kohli, Bhuvneshwar and Dhawan have also been given a breather, suggesting that Rohit and KL Rahul would be the first-choice opening pair.
The trio have been rested keeping in mind the South Africa tour that the Indian Test squad are set to leave for on December 27, three days after the conclusion of the T20I series.
Squad for South Africa Tests:
Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-capt), M Vijay, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah.
Squad for Sri Lanka T20Is:
Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Basil Thampi, Jaydev Unadkat.