Indian Captain Virat Kohli got a node from BCCI to take paternity leave to come back home after the Australia series's first Test. He recently announced on social media that he is going to be a father soon, so it was expected to see him miss out few matches on tour. It might be a big blow to the Indian Test side to retain Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Will Kohli join the squad for any remaining Test, or will he miss the entire series? BCCI has given no information on this topic. Most probably, the Indian captain is going to miss the complete series.
The first Test of the Australia tour will kick start in Adelaide, and it will be a Day-Night test. In the absence of Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane will lead the side in the remainder of the series. Team India will also find a replacement for Kohli at number 4, and the player will be chosen from the selected squad. For the Test series, Saha’s injury is also a big concern, but the team staff is hopeful about his comeback before the first Test. However, Kohli will play the white-ball series, starting from November 27.
Rohit Sharma has also found his name in the Test squad, but he has been given a rest from the white-ball series. The hitman was injured during the Indian T20 League, and he was dropped from the main squad. He recovered from the injury and captained Mumbai in the ongoing season. Ishant Sharma is still missing from the Test squad due to the injury, and BCCI will pick him when he achieves match fitness.
Varun Chakravarthy, who got the maiden national call-up, has been ruled out of the Australia series due to shoulder injury, and BCCI has named Natarajan as his replacement. The Hyderabad-pacer was outstanding in Indian T20 League, picking 16 wickets this season. He is known for his ability to bowl in death and the pinpoint yorkers. Sanju Samson has also been added to the ODI squad as the backup wicketkeeper.
Here are the revised squads for the Australia tour:
T20Is: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, T Natarajan
ODIs: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Sanju Samson (wk)
Tests: Virat Kohli (c)*, Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj
