Rohit Sharma added to India's Test squad for Australia tour; BCCI grants Virat Kohli paternity leave

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the revised squads for India’s upcoming Australia tour. The selection committee met on Sunday to take a call on certain players selected and not selected last month while picking the squads. After so much brouhaha over Rohit Sharma‘s injury, they have added him in the Test squad and rested him for ODI and T20I series to regain full fitness.

In another development, the skipper Virat Kohli has been granted paternity leave and he will return from Australia after the first of the four-match Test series. He and his wife Anushka Sharma are expecting the birth of their first child early in January while the first Test (Day-night) between India and Australia is scheduled to be played from December 17 – December 21 in Adelaide.

“At the selection committee meeting held on October 26th, 2020, Mr Virat Kohli had informed the BCCI about his plans to return to India after the first Test in Adelaide. The BCCI has granted paternity leave to the Indian captain. He will return after the first Test against Australia in Adelaide,” BCCI’s statement read in a release. Sanju Samson, meanwhile, has been added to the ODI squad as an additional wicket-keeper.

Varun Chakrvarthy ruled out of T20I series

KKR spinner Varun Chakravarthy who had sensationally earned his maiden call-up has been ruled out of the T20I series against Australia due to the shoulder injury. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) pacer T Natarajan has been named his replacement after impressing in the IPL 2020 bowling in the death overs. As far as Ishant Sharma is concerned, he continues to recover and will be added to the Test squad after regaining full fitness.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha sustained a hamstring injury recently and couldn’t play in the Qualifier 2 for SRH as well. A call on his availability will be taken later. Kamlesh Nagarkoti was picked as the extra bowler for the tour Down Under. However, he will not be travelling now as the BCCI medical team is looking into his workload management.

Here are the revised squads:

Team India T20I squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (vice-captain and wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, T Natarajan.

Team India ODI squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (vice-captain & wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper).

Team India Test squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Mohd. Siraj.