Struggling DC hope to get act together against in-form Lucknow Giants
In Yadav's absence, another rookie pacer, Yash Thakur grabbed the opportunity with both hands, and starred with a five-wicket haul against GT.
After the Indian national selectors on Tuesday named the squad for the two-match Test series against New Zealand, cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra questioned them for not selecting KL Rahul into the 16-man squad.
“KL Rahul not making it to the Test squad is surprising. He’s got three Test tons outside Asia. Talent-technique-temperament was never a question—it was only about current form. And he’s in RED HOT form now. Why not put him at the top again? #NZvInd,” tweeted Aakash.
KL Rahul not making it to the Test squad is surprising. He’s got three Test tons outside Asia. Talent-technique-temperament was never a question—it was only about current form. And he’s in RED HOT form now. Why not put him at the top again? #NZvInd
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— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) February 4, 2020
Rahul’s scintillating form with the bat in the white-ball formats along with his safe pair of hands behind the stumps raised hopes of him getting selected into the red-ball squad for New Zealand.
The right-handed batsman, after making 45 in the final T20I against New Zealand on Sunday, became the highest run-scorer for India (224) in any bilateral T20I series. The Man of the Series overtook Virat Kohli’s record of 199 runs which the latter had made against Australia in a three-match series in 2016.
Talking about India’s Test squad for New Zealand, Prithvi Shaw finds a place in the team which also has Ishant Sharma named in it, but subject to passing a fitness test. The pacer injured his ankle in a Ranji Trophy game for Delhi.
Navdeep Saini has also been named in the squad which sees Shubman Gill also making the cut thanks to some impressive scores in the India ‘A’ games against New Zealand ‘A’.
India’s Test squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Mohd Shami, Navdeep Saini, Ishant Sharma (subject to fitness clearance).
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