Indian paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar and left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav were named in India's squad for the limited-overs series against West Indies at home. Kumar and Yadav will be joined by regular skipper Virat Kohli, who was rested for the recent three-match T20I series against Bangladesh, and fast bowler Mohammed Shami who will also make a comeback into the T20I squad. The teams were announced on Thursday night.
Fast bowlers Shardul Thakur and Khaleel Ahmed, who played the Bangladesh T20Is, were left out, along with Krunal Pandya who has been replaced by all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. The other notable omissions in Indian side against the West Indies are Rahul Chahar and Sanju Samson both of whom were part of the squad for the Bangladesh series but did not get a game.
Meanwhile, Shivam Dube earned his maiden one-day international call-up for India, as has Rahul Chahar’s brother Deepak Chahar, who made his ODI debut in the 2018 Asia Cup. For 29-year-old Bhuvneshwar Kumar, it will be a key test of fitness in the run up to next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia as the seamer has been unavailable for India's 2019 home season so far.
He has been troubled by injuries since last year. Most recently, he injured his hamstring during the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in England last summer. He had been undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru and turned out for Uttar Pradesh in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India's domestic T20 competition, last week.
West Indies lost their previous T20I assignment 1-2 against Afghanistan earlier this month, while India defeated Bangladesh 2-1 in their latest T20I series. India and West Indies will play three T20Is, starting with the first game on December 6, followed by as many ODIs.
Squad:
ODIs: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shivam Dube, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar T20Is: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.