In a major blow to his ODI future, wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant was dropped from the ODI squad for the three-match series against Afghanistan. To add to his misery, he was also removed as vice-captain of the Indian Test team for the one-off match against the same opponents before the ODI series.
KL Rahul replaced Pant as the vice-captain of the Indian Test team that is being led by Shubman Gill.
Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has been expectedly rested by the Ajit Agarkar-led national selection committee from both the Test and the ODIs as part of his workload management. He will, however, be back for the tour of England later this year.
Senior all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, too, has been rested from the upcoming Test match.
The one-off Test in Mullanpur will start on June 6, followed by three ODIs scheduled from June 14 in Dharamsala, Lucknow, and Chennai.
Gujarat Titans ‘flavour’ in Test squad
Spinner Manav Suthar and pacer Gurnoor Brar – both play for the IPL franchise, Gujarat Titans, under Gill – have earned maiden call-ups to the Test squad. Brar has played 18 first-class matches and is a regular for Punjab. He has taken 12 wickets in three matches for India A so far. On the other hand, in 29 first-class outings, Rajasthan spinner Suthar has picked up 129 wickets at 25.76. The highlight was the fifer against Australia A for India A.
Interestingly, Jammu and Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi, who was the highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy, did not find a place in the Test squad.
Prince Yadav is the new face in the ODI line-up, with Ishan Kishan being the second wicket-keeper. There were speculations that Sanju Samson might get a look-in as a backup to Rahul, but the in-form Kishan got the nod.
India's Test squad:
Shubman Gill (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul (vice-captain), Sai Sudharsan, Rishabh Pant, Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Manav Suthar, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey, Dhruv Jurel.
India's ODI squad:
Shubman Gill (captain), Shreyas Iyer (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Harsh Dubey, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav, Gurnoor Brar.