Suryakumar Yadav has been named the captain of the Indian team for the five-match Twenty 20 series against Australia starting in Visakhapatnam on November 23. VVS Laxman will be the head coach for the five-game series that will end in Bangalore on December 3.
Most members of the squad that played in Ireland have been retained, barring of course, Jasprit Bumrah, who was the captain for that series. Bumrah has been rested. Prasidh Krishna, who was part of the World Cup squad is set to be part of the series but Hardik Pandya, who has been injured, has not been considered. He would of course have been the captain if he was fit.
This tour will also see the return of Axar Patel, who was replaced by R Ashwin in India’s ODI World Cup squad earlier due to an injury he sustained in the lead-up to the tournament. He comes in and Shahbaz Ahmed goes out. Sanju Samson, who was part of India’s last T20I assignment in Ireland has not been picked, with Ishan Kishan coming in for him. Jitesh Sharma, meanwhile, has retained his spot.
The selectors, who met in Ahmedabad on Monday, had also considered making Shreyas Iyer captain, but decided against it because of the workload he has taken over last few months, starting with the Asia Cup. He will however, join up with the squad for the last two T20Is in Raipur and Bengaluru as vice-captain.
Laxman’s appointment as coach is on the expected lines since Rahul Dravid, the designated India coach, is due for rest after three months of gruelling work. Besides, technically his tenure was only up to the World Cup. He has said he has not had time to reflect upon his future because he was totally focused on the World Cup.
Asked about his plans for the future, Dravid kept the matter open-ended. “I haven’t thought about it (about continuation). I’ve just come off a game. I have no time to think about this and no time to reflect on this. Yeah, I will when I get the time to do that. But at this point of time, I was completely focused on this campaign. It was focused on this World Cup, and there was nothing else on my mind. And I haven’t given any other thought to what happens in the future,” the coach said after India’s defeat in World Cup final against Australia in Ahmedabad on Monday night.
