Ajit Agarkar era begins as Indian squad announced for 5-match T20I series against West Indies
Ajit Agarkar led Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI’s) new selection committee on Tuesday announced the squad for the team India’s T20I squad for the upcoming month-long tour to West Indies. The bilateral series featuring 2 Tests, 3 ODIs, and 5 T20Is are slated to start from July 12 onwards with only a week left for the first test at Dominica.
BCCI announced the respective squads for ODIs and Tests last month with Rohit Sharma as the Captain. The Squad for the T20Is meanwhile has been announced right after the appointment of former Indian bowler Ajit Agarkar as the Chief selector.
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It will be fair to say that his reign or era has started and the 45-year-old will be hoping to put an end to Team India’s issues with unsuitable player selection. It is being reported that Agarkar’s payroll is the highest among any other Chief selector hired by the BCCI.
Ajit Agarkar sat with the other 4 selectors – Subroto Banerjee, S Sharath, Salil Ankola and SS Das on Tuesday. And during his very first selection meeting, the new committee welcomed some fresh names which shone during IPL 2023 and are waiting for the opportunity to arrive.
Ajit Agarkar welcomes fresh new faces but Rinku Singh yet to be called up
The likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Mohammad Shami and Ravindra Jadeja among other familiar senior faces are not a part of the set-up anymore. The selectors have instead chosen to go with young faces who can suit the ideology of India’s new look T20 side under Hardik Pandya.
#WIvIND #INDvsWI
Who deserves a chance in the T20I squad?
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RT 🔁 for Tilak Varma@rinkusingh235 pic.twitter.com/MZEguS2Khh— Deepak Saran (@DeepakSara50153) July 5, 2023
2 explosive Lefties, one from Mumbai and the other from Hyderabad – Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma are in the squad and their possible debuts are on the cards. Jaiswal perhaps might not have to wait until the T20s to earn a debut as he is a part of India’s Test and ODI side.
While Tilak Varma and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s selection have been appreciated, it appears that Rinku Singh who was a massive revelation this IPL, has to wait furthermore. Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson have been picked as the 2 Wicket-keeping options while Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have been reunited alongside Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi.
Mukesh Kumar has received a maiden T20 call up and Surya Kumar Yadav will take in charge as the Vice Captain of the T20 squad.
INDIA’S T20I SQUAD: Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (C), Surya Kumar Yadav (VC), Shubman Gill, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar.
