AUSvIND: BCCI Announces Revised Squad For India’s Upcoming Australia Tour; Virat Kohli Granted Leave! 

After days of waiting and discussions, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the revised squads for India’s upcoming Australia tour. 

The BCCI selection committee met on Sunday (November 8) to take a final call on certain players for the tour. Meanwhile, after so much ruckus over Rohit Sharma‘s injury, the selection committee have finally added him in the Test squad but rested him for ODI and T20I series to regain full fitness due to injury.

Coming to other developments in the team, Indian captain Virat Kohli will be returning from Australia after the first of the four-match Test series as he has been granted paternity leave.

Currently, Virat and his wife Anushka Sharma are expecting their first child which is in January while the first Test (Day-night) between India and Australia is scheduled to take place 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.

Taking a look at the other players, Sanju Samson has been added to the ODI squad as an additional wicket-keeper. While KKR spinner Varun Chakravarthy has been ruled out of the T20I series against Australia due to the shoulder injury. 

Among the newcomers, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) pacer T Natarajan has been named his (Varun's) replacement after impressing experts in the IPL 2020. As far as Ishant Sharma is concerned, he continues to recover and will be added to the Test squad after regaining full fitness.

Below 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.