Heaps of surprises in India's selection of T20 and Test squads

The Indian selectors worked overtime on Friday. The Indian T20 squads to play against the West Indies and Australia were announced. Later in the day, the Indian Test squad to play against Australia was also released.

There were heaps of surprises in the team selection, some of them pleasant while some others are shocking. Let us discuss the teams selected for the T20 and Test matches.

The T20 squad - The absence of Dhoni

Dhoni's international T20 career is often confused with his IPL performances

The biggest surprise of all is the absence of M.S. Dhoni from the T20 squad. Finally, the selectors have taken up the Dhoni conundrum in their own hands and declared that Dhoni did not find a place in the T20 squad, at least for now. Perhaps this might be a sign of things to come in future. Now that the selectors have made their intentions clear, it is up to Dhoni to make his own decision about his one-day career before it goes the T20 way. The decision should be sooner than later as Dhoni is running out of time.

It is painful for the Indian fans to see Dhoni’s T20 career taking a pause. He has given immense pleasure and entertainment to the fans with his attacking brand of cricket in T20. But right from the beginning, Dhoni’s international T20 career has been mixed with his performances in IPL.

While Dhoni is the most successful player for Chennai Super Kings, the same thing cannot be said of his international career. The Indian fans visualize Dhoni as a great T20 player purely based on his performances in the IPL.

For India, Dhoni has scored 1487 runs in 80 innings at an average of 37 and strike-rate of 127. Nothing extraordinary.

In 80 innings, he has scored only two fifties with the highest score of 56. His last 5 innings in T20 has produced 16,52,12,11 & 32 not out.

The presence of five spinners

Nadeem rewarded for his domestic performances

The Indian T20 squad announced to play against the West Indies contains 5 spinners, Kuldeep Yadav, Chahal, Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, and Shahbaz Nadeem. While Krunal Pandya’s selection as an all-rounder is on expected lines and a welcome one, one wonders whether Shahbaz Nadeem will get his opportunity ahead of the other 4 spinners. But his selection is a reward for his performances in the domestic cricket. Nadeem doesn’t find a place for the tour of Australia and rightfully so.

The selection of off-spinner Washington Sundar is in tune with the number of left-handers in the opposition team. Besides, Sundar is a good bowler in the powerplay and has done reasonably well in the limited opportunities he got before injury ruled him out.

The selection of one additional spinner in the squad for the West Indies series is perhaps at the cost of a batsman. Now Krunal Pandya should play the role of an all-rounder to perfection.

For the Australian series, the mistake has been rectified with Virat Kohli coming back into the squad after a well-deserved rest in place of the extra spinner Nadeem.

The selection of Umesh Yadav

Umesh Yadav is expensive in any form of cricket

The selection of Umesh Yadav for T20 comes under the shocking category. By now it is clear that Umesh Yadav is always expensive and firmly believes in giving a flying start, unfortunately for the opposition. The selectors could have tried Deepak Chahar or Siddarth Kaul in his place.

In the fast bowling category, apart from the front line bowlers Bhuvi and Bumrah, India have only Umesh Yadav and Khaleel Ahmed as back up. While Khaleel is untested with no much IPL experience, Umesh Yadav is unpredictable. The absence of seam bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya due to injury would certainly affect the balance of the team in Australia.

The absence of Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina's experience will be missed, more so in the absence of Dhoni

Suresh Raina is a match-winner in T20 cricket. He is an excellent fielder and a decent bowler. None of the batsmen selected for the T20 team can roll their arm over. Raina should have been selected ahead of Shreyas Iyer. In the absence of Suresh Raina, India would be missing that crucial sixth bowling option which could prove fatal.

The Test squad - Murali Vijay in for Mayank Agarwal

Murali Vijay gets a surprise recall

The selectors have opted for the more experienced Murali Vijay in place of Mayank Agarwal. While the other opener Prithvi Shaw is inexperienced, K.L. Rahul is inconsistent and not in the best of forms. Hence, the selectors have decided to call back Murali Vijay after his good show for Essex in English county cricket. It remains to be seen whether Murali Vijay still has the game, patience, and temperament to succeed in Australia.

Rohit Sharma in place of Karun Nair

Rohit Sharma gets one more chance to prove himself in Test cricket

Rohit Sharma was last dropped after the second Test against South Africa. He was not considered for the tour of England. In between, he hasn’t played any first-class cricket but now suddenly he finds himself in the Test squad. The selectors might have thought the fast and bouncy wickets of Australia would suit Rohit’s stroke play. Now one only hopes any failure in red-ball cricket doesn’t affect Rohit’s confidence in white-ball cricket especially with the World Cup around the corner.

Karun Nair, who has been part of the Test squad in the last one year, has been left out to accommodate Rohit Sharma. Some of the remarks that Karun Nair made against the selectors might not have helped his cause either.

The presence of Parthiv Patel in place of Dinesh Karthik

Parthiv Patel making a comeback for the umpteenth time

Dinesh Karthik had a sub-par tour of England and was dropped. But his replacement Parthiv Patel too did not have a great tour of South Africa. The continuous absence of Wriddhiman Saha due to injury has left the selectors with no other option except to bring back Parthiv Patel. In the past, Parthiv Patel has been looked upon as an opening option too. This has left Rishabh Pant with the experience of just 3 Test matches to don the role of the No 1 wicket-keeper in the squad.

Apart from the above 3 selections, the rest of the players select themselves for the Test series against Australia. Now it is up to the selected players to perform to their potential.

The Australians will be back from a tough tour of U.A.E against Pakistan. In the absence of David Warner and Steve Smith, they look vulnerable. Perhaps this is the best time for India to win a series against Australia in Australia which is long overdue.

The same thing was said before the tours of South Africa and England before the inevitable happened. Now one final chance for Team India to prove that they are the genuine No 1 ranked Test team in the world.