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Chairman of Selectors MS K Prasad , along with the selection committee have taken a very bold decision. It has dropped former skipper and legendary wicket- keeper batsman from Jharkhand Mahendra Singh Dhoni from the T20 squads for the series against the West Indies and later on against Australia .
A move that virtually if not means that MSD’s international career is now in the final stages. As he will play only the 50 over format. Clearly hinting that the World Cup in 2019 will be the final frontier of his glorious career.
Moreover, Pressure on MSD had increased in recent times with the arrival of young 20 -year-old Rishabh Pant as a likely potential successor.
Rohit Sharma will lead the T20 team against West Indies as skipper Virat Kohli has been rested. Rishabh Pant will don the wicket – keeper role while Dinesh Karthik might play as a batsman. Also finding places in the team are all- rounder Krunal Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Nadeem.
Team for three T20I match series against the West Indies:
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, K L Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed, Umesh Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem.
The selectors also sprung a surprise while naming the Test squad for Australia. Set to play four Tests at Down Under, the selectors have brought back Murali Vijay after his good country stint and Test comeback for Rohit Sharma. There is no Hardik Pandya. Rishabh Pant is the number one Keeper with Parthiv Patel his back- up. A selection menas its is end of the road for now of Wriddhiman Saha.
Team for four Test series against Australia:
Virat Kohli (Captain), M Vijay, K L Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Parthiv Patel, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Team for three-match T20I series against Australia:
Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice captain), Shikhar Dhawan, K L Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed.
India A team for first four-day game against New Zealand A:
Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), M Vijay, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Parthiv Patel (wicketkeeper), K Gowtham, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, R Gurbani, Vijay Shankar, K S Bharath.
