India's Squad vs WI - Who's In, Who's Out: Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant Ignored As India Call Up Two Debutants

The Indian team selection for the West Indies series threw up a few surprises. India will play three ODIs and five T20Is against the West Indies starting September 27 in Thiruvananthapuram. Rookie Punjab all-rounder Naman Dhir and Jammu and Kashmir seamer Auqib Nabi earned their maiden call-ups to India's ODI squad for the upcoming series against the West Indies, while veterans Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant were ignored for separate reasons.

KL Rahul will be the vice-captain in the absence of Shreyas Iyer. The T20I side will comprise mostly of the Asian Games squad, with Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav coming in place of Yash Thakur and Vipraj Nigam.

Pandya and Pant Ignored

While Pandya is expected to be declared fit on September 20, the national selection panel won't pick him unless he proves that he is fit to bowl 10 overs for India A.

While a section of the BCCI wanted Pandya to play against the West Indies directly since he could be cleared by the CoE for his 'Return To Play' by September 20, the selection panel is clear that "not six overs, but Pandya will only be included when he starts bowling his full quota of 10 overs."

Also, in a significant move, the selectors pulled Nitish Kumar Reddy out of the Asian Games squad to include him in the ODI side for the West Indies series.

The reason is the absence of Pandya and the lack of seam-bowling all-round options who could have been tried. Since Pandya's fitness has been dodgy, Reddy is being seen as his heir apparent.

It is understood that his services are of greater importance in the ODI set-up rather than the T20 competition at the Asian Games, where most teams are no match for India's quality and might.

In the case of Rishabh Pant, it is understood that the selectors went by feedback from important members of the team management, who feel that the maverick wicketkeeper-batter hasn't done justice to his phenomenal talent when it comes to white-ball cricket.

Pant has been named captain of the Rest of India team for the Irani Cup, with burly Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan as the vice-captain.

Jadeja Earns a Recall

While Ravindra Jadeja's white-ball stocks are on the wane, Axar Patel's presence in the Asian Games squad and Harsh Dubey's untimely hamstring injury have provided the 37-year-old all-rounder with another ODI lifeline.

Jadeja will get to play all three games and can once again put Axar under pressure as the selectors zero in on a core group of 20 players.

Dhir and Nabi More of Reserves

Strangely, Naman Dhir's best performances have come in T20s for Mumbai Indians, while Auqib Nabi has done wonders with the red ball in the Ranji Trophy. But there weren't too many options available as far as the reserve middle-order batting all-rounder and extra pacer were concerned.

Dhir has played only 14 List A games for Punjab in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, scoring 357 runs at an average of 39, a strike rate of 106, and four half-centuries to go with a top score of 97. He has also taken seven wickets with his part-time off-breaks.

Nabi, on his part, has 56 wickets from 36 List A games for Jammu and Kashmir and also bowls at a decent economy rate of 5.20. But it is highly unlikely that either Dhir or Nabi will get a look-in in the first XI.

Akash Deep Added to Rest of India Squad

Akash Deep, who has been out with a back stress fracture for the past seven months, has been picked in the Rest of India squad subject to fitness. He is recovering and is nearing completion of his Return To Play protocols before he can be picked for the October 1-5 game in Srinagar.

The Rest of India squad, led by Pant, has all the Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy performers, including the country's top four run-getters: R. Smaran, Ayush Doseja, Sanat Sangwan, and Sudip Kumar Gharami.

Up-and-coming Shikhar Mohan has also been picked along with veteran seamer Mukesh Kumar. The spin-bowling department will be handled by Manav Suthar and Saransh Jain, who recently bowled in tandem in Sri Lanka.

India's ODI team: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul (VC), Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Mohammed Siraj, Auqib Nabi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Naman Dhir.

India's T20I team: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Tilak Varma (VC), Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav.

Rest of India squad: Rishabh Pant (C, WK), Sanat Sangwan, Shikhar Mohan, Sudip Gharami, Sarfaraz Khan (VC), Smaran Ravichandran, Manav Suthar, Saransh Jain, Akash Deep*, Mukesh Kumar, Mukesh Choudhary, Aryan Juyal (WK), Aryan Pandey, Anukul Roy, Ayush Doseja

With PTI inputs 

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