The Chairman of the selection committee of the BCCI selected the Indian team for the tour of Australia in all three formats on Monday.
The tour is set to start with the first ODI in Sydney on 27 November and will end with the fourth Test in Brisbane from 15 January 2021.
While some big names missed out, some new names made the headlines. Sunil Joshi who was appointed the chairman of the selection committee after the tenure of MSK Prasad came to end took some tough decisions.
The Joshi led senior national selection panel of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named the squads for four Tests, three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and three Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) for the November 27-January 19 tour.
Rohit Sharma, who has missed Mumbai Indians’ last two outings in the IPL after sustaining a hamstring injury, has been left out from the squads to the surprise of many for India’s three-month-long tour to Australia.
While KL Rahul who is shouldering the responsibility of leading Kings XI Punjab this season has been made the vice-captain of India's limited-overs format in the absence of Rohit Sharma.
Rishabh Pant has also been excluded from the white ball format, owing to his poor run in IPL 2020, but he makes his place in test side. Hardik Pandya misses out in tests but ill ply his services in ODIs and T20I.
Mohammad Siraj, Varun Chakravarty and Shubman Gill have been included in the squad. While Siraj gets his place in the longer format. Shubman Gill will feature in ODIs and Tests both. KKR mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy makes his way into the T20 side.
While many cricket pundits and fans lauded the selection panel for giving chance to youngsters many expressed their disbelief after Surya Kumar Yadav was ignored for the selection. The right-handed batsman has been on the fringe for last two season for Mumbai Indians
Suryakumar has been in a sublime form in IPL 2020. He has notched up 283 runs at an average of 31.44 and a strike-rate of 148.94 in the 11 matches he has played so far
He has also two half-centuries to his name with a highest score of 79 not out.
Expressing his disappointment over the omission of Yadav, Harbhajan Singh slammed the selection panel.
"Don't know what else @surya_14kumar needs to do get picked in the team india.. he has been performing every ipl and Ranji season..different people different rules I guess @BCCI I request all the selectors to see his records," tweeted Harbhajan.
While renowned cricket commentator and presenter Harsha Bhogle said that he feels for Surya and hopes he play a sizzling innings in the remaining matches for MI. He further said that to be included in the side, he had to get past Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey.
‘You have to feel for @surya_14kumar and @mipaltan will be hoping his response will be to play some sizzling innings. He had to get past Shreyas Iyer or Manish Pandey given that Mayank Agarwal opens and Rahul and Samson are the keepers,“ tweeted Harsha.
Fans also batted for Suryakumar Yadav not being included in any of the squad.
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