Rohit Sharma back in Test squad for Sri Lanka series
Rohit Sharma returned to the Virat Kohli-led India team for the three-Test series against Sri Lanka, starting July 26 in Galle.
However, triple centurion Karun Nair lost his place after poor performances since his unbeaten 303 against England at Chennai.
Rohit’s last Test was against New Zealand before getting injured, which ruled him out for the entire home season. He returned to action in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and led Mumbai Indians to their third title.
Rohit was part of India’s campaign for the Champions Trophy before being rested for the West Indies tour.
KL Rahul too returned to the team after injury forced him to miss the IPL and Champions Trophy.
Rahul was in fine form, scoring half centuries in his last five Test innings before injury struck. His scores in the last Test series against Australia read 10, 64, 51, 90, 67, 60 and 51 not out.
Nair couldn’t hold on to his place after aggregating 54 in his last three Tests against Australia.
His poor form continued for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL-10.
The three-member selection panel joined via a teleconference on Sunday to decide the team.
No major surprises were expected after the successful home run where Kohli & Co lost only one Test (against Australia in Pune).
India will play a two-day warm-up tie (July 21-22) before the three Tests, five ODIs and one T20I against Sri Lanka.
The first Test will be played at Galle from July 26-30. The second Test will be at SSC, Colombo, before proceeding to Kandy for the third Test.
India won the three-Test series 2-1 on their last tour to Sri Lanka in 2015.
The series witnessed exchange of words between the players, which was a surprise as the relationship between the teams has been cordial.
Kohli & Co were blasted for their aggressive behaviour. Thethen team director Ravi Shastri too received flak.
Shastri is now the frontrunner for the head coach’s position when the Cricket Advisory Committee meets on Monday.
Test squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-capt), Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohd Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund.