The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a 15-member squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan beginning on June 14 in Bengaluru. Virat Kohli will not be playing the Test as he will play county cricket for Surrey next month. Ajinkya Rahane will lead the squad. Rohit Sharma is the major name that has been omitted from the Test squad.
Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are named only in the one-off Test against Afghanistan. This is Afghanistan’s debut in Test cricket after ICC handed full membership to Afghanistan and Ireland last year which allowed them to play Test cricket.
The selection committee led by MSK Prasad also picked teams for the two-match T2O series against Ireland, as well as the three-match T20I series and three-match ODI series against England. Most of the players in the T20 series against Ireland as well as the ODI squad and T20 series against England are the same.
They include Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Mahindra Singh Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Jaspreet Bhumra. BCCI also announced that Indian skipper Virat Kohli will play next month’s two Twenty20 internationals against Ireland.
Wriddhiman Shaha has been picked only for the Test against Afghanistan. Suresh Raina and Manish Pandey have been included for the T-20 series against Ireland and England. Shreyas Iyer and Ambati Rayhudu are included in 18 member squad for ODI series against England.