It was during today’s evening that the teams for the imminent Test against Afghanistan and the limited-overs leg of the England tour were to be selected. The eyes of the cricket loving fans were on the selectors for both the teams were expected to rest some big names and also contain some new names.
Virat Kohli, India’s Test captain, will miss the match against Afghanistan next month as he will board the plane to fulfil his county commitments. The selectors dropped Rohit Sharma from the Test squad whereas Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were rested.
There were talks of selectors giving many new faces a go for this Test but that didn’t happen as most of the regular members of the Test team were included in the squad.
As far as the limited overs squad were concerned, Siddarth Kaul was named in both the squads after his consistent performances in the IPL. Another interesting inclusion was of Lokesh Rahul and Ambati Rayudu, two names who have been amongst the runs in this season of the IPL.
Even Washington Sundar and Umesh Yadav got the nod in the both the sides. Amongst the people who are dropped from the team are Ajinkya Rahane (ODIs), Manish Pandey (ODIs), Mohammad Shami (ODIs), Shardul Thakur (ODIs & T20Is), Axar Patel (ODIs & T20Is) and Jaydev Unadkar (T20Is).
One name whose inclusion in the T20I side didn’t generate talks in the affirmative was Manish Pandey. Most people have disliked this option due to his current form in the IPL, which is not overwhelming. In the 10 matches that he has played so far, he has scored 184 runs at an average of 23 and a strike rate of 112.19. However, what people are not realising is that he was India’s third-highest run-scorer in their previous assignment, Nidahas Trophy, and second-highest run-scorer in the format in South Africa.
Watch some of the reactions on Twitter:
Really surprised not to see Ambati Rayudu in India's T20I squad.
I think he had a case to get in over Manish Pandey, surely?#TeamIndia #Cricket #ENGvIND
— CricBlog ✍ (@cric_blog) May 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/11_18_143/status/993833142677995521
Does Manish Pandey have superior 20 overs skills to odi cricket? #indianteamselection #bcci
— Rasesh Mandani (@rkmrasesh) May 8, 2018
Is Manish Pandey BCCI's son in law?
— Omkar Kulkarni (@omk_ok) May 8, 2018
You should have selected rayadu over Manish Pandey this is a stupid move considering the form he is in the t20s
— Pari ❤️🧚 (@Calamars1016) May 8, 2018
Manish Pandey ko kis angke se T20 me select kiya gaya uske jagah Shreyas Ya Pant best option thaa…totally politics in cricket…@BCCI 😠😡😠😡
— aakash burman (@akkub786) May 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/ThalapathyFan34/status/993854061010083841
https://twitter.com/Sajjanlaunda/status/993832788590645248
why the hell, manish pandey was getting selected again and again :/
— Iniyan (@IniyanIni07) May 8, 2018
Manish Pandey despite of very poor IPL & No Suryakumar Yadav & Ambati Raydu despite of such a great IPL performance, very very poor selection in this.
— Moh!t (@mitpopat) May 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/adilmz12/status/993825537482080256
https://twitter.com/PPenumarty/status/993850490541633536
How many more chAnces Manish Pandey needs…he has been poor for @SunRisers too!
— Gagan Chawla (@toecrushrzzz) May 8, 2018
