ENG v IND, 2018: Five surprising inclusions in India ODI and T20I squads

The Cheif Selection committee has announced the squads that will be flying to England earlier on Tuesday. The squads for the limited-over series have been announced. Team India will be playing a 3-match T20I series that will be followed by a 3-match ODI series this English summer. The tour will begin on July 3, 2018, and will pan all the way till September 11, 2018. While the core of the squad remains unchanged from the series earlier, there are a few surprises. A few of the players who haven’t been in the best of their forms were picked in the side. While some of these players have performed well in the IPL thus far, their selection wasn’t expected this soon. Here are five surprising inclusions in the ODI and T20I squads: 1. Manish Pandey Manish Pandey. (Photo Source: Twitter) Manish Pandey has retained his place in the Indian team despite a string of poor performances. Pandey hasn’t had the best of IPL this year and is struggling with the bat. He hasn’t been timing the ball as well and is struggling to hit the big shots. Pandey has last played an ODI in December last year and is rightly axed from the ODI squad. However, he was picked in the T20I squad. He didn’t have any substantial scores in the Nidahas Trophy that justify his selection. In the IPL, he has only scored 184 runs in 10 innings which also included two slow-paced 50’s. In the last eight T20Is played for India, he only had one noteworthy performance where he scored 79 off 48 against South Africa. Considering the recent form, he is definitely the most surprising inclusion in the T20I squad. It will be interesting if he will make it into the playing XI. 2. Shardul Thakur Shardul Thakur. (Photo Source: Twitter) Shardul Thakur has been a decent find for India in the recent times. However, he seems to be a largely unfinished product and needs to gain more experience. Playing for CSK this year in the IPL, he didn’t find great success in this year. He played seven games for the franchise and has picked eight wickets at an economy rate close to 10. Shardul is axed from the T20I squad but has managed to find a place in the ODI squad. With the Indian team, he has had some on and off performances. While he was too expensive in a few games, he fared really well in the others. He picked a 4-wicket haul in the recent Nidahas Trophy and another 4-wicket haul in the sixth ODI against the Proteas. Since he has been very expensive of late, his inclusion in the squad comes in as a surprise but the selectors are clearly backing him to get better with time. 3. Umesh Yadav Umesh Yadav of RCB celebrates a wicket. (Photo Source: Twitter) Taking nothing away from Umesh Yadav’s performances in the IPL this year, his selection still comes in as a surprise. Umesh managed to replace Shardul in the T20I squad for the England series. Umesh will be playing a T20I match after nearly six years if he makes it to the XI. He last played a T20I in August 2012 against the Lankans. Although Umesh has impressed everyone with his performances in the IPL, he looked a bit wavy towards the death and has leaked many runs. The English batsmen like pace on the bat and might enjoy facing Umesh Yadav. He doesn’t really offer much swing and bowls length ball towards the end which is an absolute delight for the batsmen. But, all in all, it is a wonderful opportunity for him to prove his worth and represent India in all three formats of the game. 4. Washington Sundar Washington Sundar. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Washington Sundar was phenomenal in the Nidahas Trophy for India. He bowled very economical spells and that too in the powerplay. He picked 8 wickets in the 5 games that were played in the Nidahas Trophy and played a crucial role in India winning the trophy. However, it is worth noting that these performances came against relatively weak sides. In the IPL, he has struggled with the ball. The batsmen targetted him and he found it tough to find a way out. He was in and out of the RCB side and didn’t have really noteworthy performances. But still, Sundar managed to hold on to his place in the T20I squad and was also picked in the ODI squad which would be quite encouraging for him. But, bowling on England pitches will be a challenge and he will have to raise the standards of his game to do well over there. Don’t be surprised if you see him interacting more with Moeen Ali in the RCB dugout this year. 5. Siddarth Kaul Siddarth Kaul of Sunrisers Hyderabad. (Photo by Surjeet Yadav/IANS) Siddarth Kaul was phenomenal for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the last two season. He has increased his pace and has worked on a lot of variations. In 2017, he picked 16 wickets in 10 games. This year, he is one of the leading contenders for the Purple Cap having picked 13 wickets in 10 games so far. However, Kaul has no international experience. Sending him to England straight away could be a great challenge for the youngster. But, he has been eager to represent India at the international level all this while. Although this doesn’t come as a big surprise, it will still be interesting to see how he fares on the English pitches.

Topics

Featured Section

Current Series

IPL 2025 Auction

IPL Teams

Cricket Fantasy Tips

Cricket Stats

ICC Rankings

Interviews

Twitter Reactions

Cricket Appeal

Social Tracker

More Links

# Follow Us

Other Sports

ENG v IND, 2018: Five surprising inclusions in India ODI and T20I squads

Do these players deserve a chance? All of them failed to live up to the expectations.

5. Siddarth Kaul

Latest Articles

Champions Trophy 2025: Bangladesh’s predicted squad

Manish Pandey, Ashrita unfollow each other on Instagram

BBL 2024-2025: Match 29, HUR vs THU Match Prediction