BHUVI, BUMRAH BACK FOR LAST THREE ODIS AGAINST WI

NEW DELHI: India’s frontline pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah will be back in action during the remaining three ODIS against the West Indies after a workload management break for four weeks.

It is learnt that the selection committee will name the squad for the six T20s against West Indies and Australia (three home and three away) in Pune on Friday.

It will be interesting to see if India captain Virat Kohli, whose workload management has been paramount for the selectors, will play the T20 Internationals against the West Indies. Kohli will be playing the full ODI series after having played two Test matches as per the 15-member squad announced by the BCCI on Thursday. However, not many surprises are expected in the T20 set-up from the squads that played in the shortest format against Ireland and England earlier this year.

Senior pacer Mohammed Shami has been dropped from the squad after giving away 81 and 59 runs in the two games.

Umesh Yadav, however, managed to retain his place in the squad after giving away 64 and 78 runs in the first two ODIS. The national selection committee had rested Bhuvneshswar and Bumrah after India’s Asia Cup triumph and they didn’t feature in the two-test series against the Caribbean side. But India’s first-choice pacers will be back in action at a time when the reserve pacers went for 320 plus in both the games on placid tracks.

Both Bhuvneshwar and Bum- rah possess more variations in white ball cricket compared to Shami and Umesh. They are expected to pose more challenge for the Caribbean batsmen despite batting-friendly tracks and dew being a factor.

The selectors didn’t pick Kedar Jadhav, who made a comeback in the ongoing Deodhar Trophy scoring 41 off 25 balls and bowling a few overs of off-breaks. It is expected that Jadhav will have to play a few more games before being selected for the limited overs. There was speculation about Prithvi Shaw’s selection in the ODI squad but the young batting sensation has sustained a hand injury during the Deodhar Trophy and didn’t take part in India A’s match against India C on Thursday.

The last three ODIS against the West Indies will be played on October 27, 29 and November 1.

Meanwhile, Shai Hope’s unbeaten century salvaged a confidence-boosting tie for the West Indies in the thrilling second ODI against India here but the wicket-keeper batsman said the visitors need to put up more consistent performances as a team in the remainder of the series.

Hope hit only his second ODI century on Wednesday to help West Indies tie the match after India had put on an imposing 321 fort six after opting to bat. “Definitely, such knocks improve your confidence. You have to gain after every innings. It was a matter of time before I got a big score,” Hope said at the postmatch press conference.

“(But) we need to be more con- sistent as a team.” Chasing 322 to win at the start of innings and five off the last ball, Hope cut India seamer Umesh Yadav for a boundary through point to level the scores. He later said his aim was to just put bat to ball in the last delivery.

The Indian squad for 3rd, 4th and 5th ODI against the West Indies: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Rishabh Pant, M S Dhoni (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed, Umesh Yadav, K L Rahul, Manish Pandey.