After the Indian cricket team’s a month long tour of England ends with the 3rd and the final ODI match on the 17th of July, the Men in Blue will then travel for the Caribbean island as Team India is set to take on the mighty West Indies from the 22nd July.
With the West Indies tour in sight, today, on the 6th of July 2022, the BCCI and the All India senior selection committee has named a 16-members squad for the One Day International series that commences on the 22nd of July.
However, as soon the squad was announced, the fans were hugely surprised as left-hand opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan has been named the captain of the team instead of the regular captain Rohit Sharma, who has been rested for the series. Other than that, Ravindra Jadeja has been named the vice-captain for the series.
The squad sees number of senior player who have been rested for the series. The likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah are some big names who are missing. Today, in this article, we discuss about 3 players who should have been part of the squad, but has been excluded.
Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli is probably the biggest and most surprising name to have been excluded from the series. Virat is currently going the worst phase of his career having not scored a Hundred since the year 2019. It is really massive given how consistently Virat was scoring runs and centuries to prior to that.
While he was part of the England Test match and is likely to take part in the upcoming T20I and ODI series as well, it is probably a very bad idea to rest Kohli now. It is right now better for him to be on the ground the more right now as possible. The more he will play, the faster likely he can regain his lost touch. And while the T20 World Cup is also approaching, it is better to keep the important players in the game.
Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya is another name that has been excluded from the squad and has shocked the fans. Hardik Pandya made a tremendous comeback into the team after almost losing the position. He also led the team in the T20I series against Ireland.
Hardik has mostly been sidelined with injury from the 2021 T20 World Cup. He made a strong comeback in the IPL 2022, leading his side Gujarat Titans to the IPL Trophy in their maiden season. With the amount of gametime that Hardik has lost, it would have been much better to keep him in the squad, also to keep him fit with the T20 World Cup in the horizon and it’s not like that he has played too many games and needs must a rest.
Mohammed Shami
Jasprit Bumrah’s partner Mohammed Shami is an integral member of the Indian team in the 50 overs format of the game. The pacer played an important role in the Indian team’s performance in the 2019 Cricket World Cup and who doesn’t remember his performance against Afghanistan.
The pacer has been consistently doing well for India in the ODI and Test cricket. He was in phenomenal form in the IPL 2022 while playing for the Gujarat Titans. His pace bowling was something to enjoy in the recently concluded Test match against England. He may not be in the plan for the T20 World Cup 2022, but he is well in the plan for the ODI World Cup next year to be played in Indiaa and it would have been good for him to play in the format to keep his rhythm going.