The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday announced the 16-member squad for the one-day international (ODI) series against Australia and New Zealand in January 2019.
Virat Kohli will continue to lead the side while Rishabh Pant, who made his ODI debut against the West Indies, has been dropped. Dinesh Karthik will be the second wicketkeeper in the team.
After returning from Australia post the ongoing Test series, Pant will play for India A in the five-match one-day series against England Lions. Manish Pandey has also failed to make the cut.
Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya has made a comeback in the ODI squad after a three-month injury layoff. He last played an ODI for India during the Asia Cup in September. He was ruled out after the game against Pakistan due to a back injury.
India will play three ODIs against Australia – January 12 (Sydney), 15 (Adelaide) and 18 (Melbourne). It will be followed by a five-match ODI series against New Zealand – January 23, 26, 28, 31 and February 3 before the T20I contest – February 6, 8 and 10.
This will be the last leg of India’s World Cup preparations. In 2018, India won bilateral ODI series against South Africa, West Indies and the Asia Cup. However, they lost an ODI series in England.
India’s squad for ODI series against Australia and New Zealand:
Virat (c), Rohit (vc), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Shami.
