Published: May 20, 2015, 01:44 PM (IST)
Edited: May 20, 2015, 04:39 PM (IST)
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squads for the upcoming Bangladesh tour. India will be playing a One-off Test and three match One-Day International (ODI) series on this tour. Virat Kohli will lead in the Test, whereas MS Dhoni will captain the One-Day International (ODI) team. Also discarded off spinner, Harbhajan Singh has made a comeback in the Test squad. READ: India tour of Bangladesh 2015: Expect monsoon to play spoilsport
The Indian cricket team will arrive in Bangladesh on June 7. Fatullah’s Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium will host the One-off Test from June 10 while all three ODIs will be played on June 18, 21 and 24 in Mirpur. The month of June is prime Monsoon season in Bangladesh. So expect rain-interruptions during the games. Keeping the rain threat in mind, all three matches have been allotted reserve days. This time Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is desperate to produce results from the ODIs. READ: MS Dhoni fined for inappropriate public comment
Harbhajan’s selection comes as a surprise for everyone. It ended the veteran off-spinner’s two-year absence from the international game. The 34-year-old, whose 413 wickets in 101 Tests make him the most successful current spinner in the game, last played for India in the Hyderabad Test against Australia in March 2013.
“With several left-handers in the Bangladesh team, we decided to go in with two off-spinners in Harbhajan and [Ravichandran] Ashwin in the Test squad,” chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil told reporters in Mumbai. The selectors named full-strength Test and one-day squads for the short tour, despite media speculation that senior players may be rested after being on the road since October.
Injured seamer Mohammed Shami was the lone omission as the selectors picked the same one-day squad which reached the World Cup semi-finals under Dhoni’s captaincy earlier this year. Virat Kohli, who took over the Test captaincy after Dhoni retired from the longer format during the Australian tour, was reappointed captain for the lone Test match in Fatullah from June 10-14.
Test Squad:
Virat Kohli (C), Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Ishant Sharma.
ODI Squad:
MS Dhoni (C & WK), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Akshar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Stuart Binny, Dhawal Kulkarni
(With inputs from AFP)
