NZ tour of India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan escape axe

The outgoing selection committee members of the Board of Control for Cricket in India kept faith in the squad, who won the four match Test series 2-0 in the West Indies recently. After an hour long meeting with skipper Virat Kohli and coach Anil Kumble here on Monday, the selectors trimmed the 17-member squad to 15, resulting in axing of all-rounder Stuart Binny and fast bowler Shardul Thakur. Both Binny and Thakur didn’t play any Test in the Caribbean.

The Sandeep Patil-led selection committee chose not to experiment in what was their final announcement as their tenure came to an end.

“India had a good outing in the West Indies. They have done well overseas, which was a rarity in the past. We have decided to stick with the same team. We were of the opinion that this was the best possible combination for the New Zealand series,” Patil said here.

Rohit Sharma was retained along with Cheteshwar Pujara and Shikhar Dhawan. The trio have been inconsistent in Tests but the selectors, in consultation with Kumble and Kohli, opted to give them a longer run. Pujara had struck the right notes when he struck a century and a double ton in the ongoing Duleep Trophy.

“Rohit is a fabulous player, he has immense talent. He hasn’t got longer run in the past. So the selectors, coach and captain decided to give him a longer run. Not only him (Rohit), whoever we pick, will be given a fair amount of chance here onwards,” Patil said.

Gautam Gambhir was ignored again despite four consecutive half centuries in the Duleep Trophy as the selectors persisted with underperforming Dhawan. Youngsters Sheldon Jackson, Mayank Agarwal, Kuldeep Yadav and Manish Pandey, who have shown exemplary form in recent times, will also have to wait for their chances.

“We want him (Dhawan) to come good, not only him, we want all 15 to perform. We have faith in all 15. We have discussed not only Gautam but other seniors also. We have not forgotten the seniors, we discuss a lot of players,” Patil said.

He praised the elevation of K.L. Rahul who was impressive during the the West Indies tour. “We are very happy with how K.L. Rahul has settled into the senior team,” he said.

Kohli will lead the side with Ajinkya Rahane named as his deputy. The squad has seven specialist batsmen in addition to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha. The bowling unit comprise of three spinners and four fast bowlers.

The 15-member squad are set to kick-start preparations for the series with a four-day camp in Kanpur from September 17 and the three-match Test series begin September 22 to 26 followed by matches in Kolkata (September 30 to October 4) and Indore (October 8 to 12).

Squad: Virat Kohli (capt.), K.L. Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-capt.), M. Vijay, Rohit Sharma, R. Ashwin, W. Saha (wk), R. Jadeja, M. Shami, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan, Amit Mishra, Umesh Yadav