The National Selection Committee headed by Chetan Sharma took yet another surprising decision on Friday. Demoted Hanuma Vihari and included in the squad for India ‘A’ tour of South Africa, while Shreyas Iyer was named for the two-Test series against New Zealand. The two-Test series between India and New Zealand will start in Kanpur from November 25. At the same time, Vihari’s name was added three days after the announcement of the India A team for the tour of South Africa. Our associate newspaper Times of India broke the news on Thursday itself that Ajinkya Rahane will lead the Indian team in the first Test in the absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Virat Kohli will join the team for the second Test starting in Mumbai from December 3. The Times of India also reported that Rishabh Pant and Shardul Thakur will be rested for the entire series. Questions are already being raised on the selection committee regarding the team of T20 World Cup. After this, after the selection of the Test and A team, many more questions can be asked from him. Vihari, whose last innings was in Sydney, would consider himself unlucky. His belligerent innings helped India draw the Sydney Test against Australia. Vihari hoped that had he been included in the team, he would have scored a few more runs on home soil. Rahane and Pujara, who are currently struggling to regain form, have been named captain and vice-captain at the start of the series.
Middle-order backup has to be done
The Times of India has learned that the motive behind sending Vihari to South Africa with the India ‘A’ team is to give him time to adjust to the conditions there. The advantage of this will be that Vihari can prove to be useful when the Indian team goes to South Africa to play three Test matches in December. Prithvi Shaw is also a part of the ‘A’ team. Schreier has not played a Test match for almost two and a half years. But according to the Times of India, the selectors are very serious about preparing an alternative to Pujara and Rahane. Iyer is being seen as a potential candidate and this will give new coach Rahul Dravid an idea of ​​what kind of game Iyer can play in a Test match. Along with this, there is also a theory that if needed, Shubman Gill can also bat in the middle order in this longest format of cricket. Gill has done well in the middle-order in domestic cricket. A source close to the selectors told our colleague Times of India, “We should also note that Dravid has been in favor of an ‘A’ tour before any major overseas tour. Anyway, a big team will go to South Africa. This will give Vihari and Sao enough time and opportunity to adapt to the situation there. And if he performs well, he will be included in the Test squad in South Africa. By the way, the Indian team does not need a specialist batsman till number 7 in India. Ravindra Jadeja can bat higher up the order and Ravichandran Ashwin has also been a good player on Indian pitches. Surprisingly, Haryana’s off-spinner Jayant Yadav has also been included in the Test squad. Yadav is not showing a great game in domestic cricket as well, while Karnataka off-spinner Krishnappa Gautam, who has been in excellent form for the last few years, has been selected in the India ‘A’ team, although Yadav scored 58 runs in Ranji Trophy in February 2020. He took seven wickets for giving but he played only two matches in that season.
Bold decisions regarding India ‘A’
Apart from the inclusion of Vihari, the selectors have also included the Under-19 World Cup winning captain Baba Aparajith in the India ‘A’ squad. The undefeated has not been able to show a very good game in domestic cricket in the last few years. In the last Ranji season, he scored 292 runs in 8 matches. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he scored 217 runs at an average of 43.40. However, there are undefeated batsmen who can bowl as well and that goes in their favor. Incidentally, the selectors have picked only one wicketkeeper. Upendra Yadav will be the only wicketkeeper for the three first-class matches against South Africa. No information has been given about who will be his substitute if he gets injured.
Team
Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara (Vice-Captain), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, R.K. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Siraj and the famous Krishna Virat will join the team in the second Test
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