Mumbai: As expected, Shikhar Dhawan is back in the limited-over squads for the Caribbean tour and the buzz about Virat Kohli's non-participation has been put at rest.
But, fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been rested for the three ODIs and as many T20Is. Also excluded are Hardik Pandya and Vijay Shankar.
A pleasant surprise, Rishabh Pant will be groomed as the wicket-keeper for the next World Cup in 2023 and will be part of all the three formats for the forthcoming tour of West Indies, beginning August 3.
Veteran wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni, meanwhile, can concentrate on his regimental duties in the infantry; but there is no word on his retirement just yet.
Krunal Pandya and Manish Pandey, who have been in brilliant form in the ongoing unofficial ODI series against West Indies Team A, have been named in the T20I squad.
Ravindra Jadeja, who impressed in the World Cup, has also found a berth in all the three squads. Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma, R Ashwin and Umesh Yadav have returned for the two Tests.
The Indian selectors also finally decided to address the number four conundrum and have decided to give Shreyas Iyer a chance. Incidentally, the selectors had ignored Iyer for the World Cup, a ploy that flopped.
Coming into the Windies series, it was always going to be a competition between Shubman Gill and Shreyas for that position. Both the batsmen are currently in the West Indies with the India ‘A' team and have been among runs.
Interestingly, skipper Manish Pandey also hit a century in the series, but he is seen more as a number five or six than a number four in the batting line-up.
The fans, however, are unhappy with the fact that the promising Punjab batsman Shubman Gill has been ignored by the selectors for the limited overs series. The 19-year-old made his ODI debut with the senior squad during the tour of New Zealand earlier this year.
There are a few decisions which raise eyebrows: Mayank Agarwal was flown in as a replacement for the injured Vijay Shankar on the insistence of the team management during the World Cup and now he is not a part of the ODI team for the West Indies series.
His exclusion comes as a bigger shocker just when selectors are looking forward to grooming players with an eye on the 2023 World Cup. So, Mayank has to go back and play domestic cricket and prove his mettle.
In the ODI squad, the biggest surprise was that Kedar Jadhav and Kuldeep Yadav have both been given another a chance. After a poor show in the World Cup, it was expected that the selectors would look at fresh faces, but clearly, the five wise men don't think on the same lines.
The spin department sees the call-up of Rahul Chahar for what has been a quality show in the Indian Premier League.
The pace bowling department also has a fresh look with Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar and Navdeep Saini giving Bhuvneshwar Kumar company.
