Dhoni opts out of West Indies tour, Hardik rested, Bumrah only for Tests

Dhoni opts out of West Indies tour, Hardik rested, Bumrah only for Tests
Amid intense speculation over his future, MS Dhoni is not travelling with the India squad to the West Indies. Chief selector MSK Prasad has said the wicketkeeper-batsman has “expressed his unavailability” for the tour.

Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya have been rested from the white-ball leg of the tour, and the latter isn’t part of the Test squad either. Virat Kohli attended the selection meeting on Sunday having received a “special invite” to it.

The Test squad was largely along expected lines, with Wriddhiman Saha making his return after more than a year out injured as one of two wicketkeepers alongside Rishabh Pant. R Ashwin, who hasn’t played international cricket since the Adelaide Test in December 2018, and missed the rest of the Australia Tests with a side strain, is part of a three-member spin contingent alongside Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav.

The T20I and ODI squads include a pair of uncapped players. Delhi fast bowler Navdeep Saini found a place in both, and Rajasthan legspinner Rahul Chahar earned a call-up to the T20I squad.

Middle-order batsmen Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey, and left-arm seamer Khaleel Ahmed were also recalled to the ODI squad, while pace bowler Deepak Chahar and allrounder Washington Sundar made their way back into the T20I squad. Dinesh Karthik, who was India’s reserve wicketkeeper at the World Cup, missed out from both limited-overs squads.

Shikhar Dhawan, who left the World Cup midway with a broken thumb, has recovered fully and is back in the ODI and T20I squads. However Vijay Shankar, who suffered a toe fracture during the tournament, is still not back to full fitness.