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

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.