Overview
- BCCI named a 15-man squad for three ODIs starting January 11 in Vadodara, appointing Shubman Gill captain and Shreyas Iyer vice-captain subject to Centre of Excellence fitness clearance.
- Rishabh Pant kept his place as the second wicketkeeper behind KL Rahul, underscoring the management’s preference for a settled group over immediate domestic form rewards.
- Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mohammed Shami and Ishan Kishan were omitted, while Mohammed Siraj returned to bolster a pace unit that also includes Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana.
- Hardik Pandya was left out after the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence did not clear him to bowl a full 10-over quota, with Nitish Kumar Reddy continuing as the fast-bowling all-round option.
- Ravichandran Ashwin and Irfan Pathan questioned Gaikwad’s exclusion and discussed Pant’s left-handed value, as Bengal coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla criticized Shami’s omission as unfair.