Picture Credit: Twitter
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday, November 20 announced a 15-member squad for the five-match T20I series against Australia, set to commence on November 23, Thursday. While the BCCI named Suryakumar Yadav as the skipper of the side in absence of Hardik Pandya, who sustained an ankle injury in CWC 2023 match against Bangladesh, Ruturaj Gaikwad was named his deputy.
Also Read: India vs Australia 1st T20I: Date, Time, Venue, Squads, Live Streaming & More
Additionally, with Arshdeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, all back into the side, there were some disappointments with Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sanju Samson and Shikhar Dhawan not finding a place. Although the senior players including Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and others being rested, the agony of the fans rose after key players, who have done good in the limited overs weren’t part of the side.
While the fans had their role to play, Yuzvendra Chahal took to social media to share a cryptic tweet which just had a single smiley emoticon.
It is to be noted that Chahal has been out from the scheme of things off late and in a recent interview after being snubbed from the CWC 2023 squad also said that he is used to it now. “I understand that only 15 players can be a part, because it’s a World Cup, where you can’t take 17 or 18,” he had said earlier.
“I do feel a little bad, but my motto in life is to move on. I’m used to it now, it’s been three World Cups (laughs). That’s why I came here (at Kent) to play because I want to play cricket somewhere, somehow,” he said while speaking to Wisden India.
Talking about India’s upcoming series against Australia, the five-match T20I series will be played from 23rd November till 3rd December. While the first T20I will take place at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, followed by a game each in Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati, Raipur and Bengaluru.
India squad for T20I series against Australia:
Suryakumar Yadav (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vc), Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dubey, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Shreya Iyer (last two matches only).
