Twitter Reactions: Indian selectors retain 15, drop Binny and Thakur for the series against New Zealand

The Indian selection panel chaired by Sandeep Patil in probably one of its last assignments sat together in Mumbai to pick the India squad for the 3-Test series against New Zealand at home starting later this month. They decided to go with a more conservative approach of holding onto the ones who played the recent series in West Indies. While the team traveled with 17-men for the Caribbean tour they have cut it down to 15 considering the fact that they will be playing at home now.

Two players axed from the team are pacer Shardul Thakur and all-rounder Stuart Binny. Thakur just played one warm-up game wherein he picked a wicket Binny also had a similar fate but things went worse for him when he conceded 30 runs in a single over in the first T20I against West Indies played in Florida.

While a lot of people expected the domestic heavyweights like Gautam Gambhir, Shreyas Iyer and even India A skipper Manish Pandey to be rewarded with a place in the team there wasn’t any delight for them. Amidst all that Shikhar Dhawan has held his place and so have Rohit Sharma and Umesh Yadav who had a mixed tour of the West Indies. It will be interesting to see if the team management opts for the five bowlers strategy while playing at home.

If they do, then there is a greater chance of all the three spinners in Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra playing along with Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami or Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Also check out – Twitter Reactions: Gautam Gambhir’s exclusion triggers Indian fans

Indian squad for the Test series against West Indies: Virat Kohli (C), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, KL Rahul, Umesh Yadav, Murali Vijay

Here is how Twitterati reacted to the team that has been selected:

https://twitter.com/Virendarr_swag/status/775244757500989440

https://twitter.com/i_amswaraj/status/775237341937999872