India squad for Zimbabwe tour announced; Ajinkya Rahane to captain side

The selection committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the India squad for the tour of Zimbabwe at a meet in New Delhi on Monday. Ajinkya Rahane has been selected as the skipper of the team that is to play three One-Day Internationals (ODI) and two Twenty20 Internationals (T20I).

Regular ODI skipper MS Dhoni, Test skipper Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan were some of the key players rested for the tour, mainly due to the fatigue of having played non-stop cricket since November last year. Harbhajan Singh, who made his comeback in the one-off Test in the recently concluded tour of Bangladesh, has been picked for the upcoming series. READ: Sending second-string side has more pros than cons

The tour was given a green signal by BCCI after a lot of deliberations, including issues against the official broadcasters of the series, as well as complaints of fatigue by weary players. However, the board put all speculations to rest when it gave the nod to the series in an official release on Saturday. Chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil also added that Ravindra Jadeja has been dropped from the side for the tour. READ: India must tweak team following ODI series loss to Bangladesh

Patil was also questioned about the selection committee’s decision to appoint Rahane as the skipper, to which Patil stated that he was picked due to the panel’s faith in him and ability.

“We are confident about his (Ajinnkya Rahane’s) ability, and we want him to do well, and judge him at the same time,” Patil was quoted as saying during the event.

The meeting, that is taking place at the ITC Maurya hotel in New Delhi, will also witness the selectors announcing the India A squad for the triangular series that will feature Australia ‘A’ and South Africa ‘A’, the matches of which will be held at the Chennai and Wayanad.

India Squad: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Murali Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, Manoj Tiwary, Kedar Jadhav, Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Harbhajan Singh, Akshar Patel, Karn Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Stuart Binny, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma.