The cricket action has been in a dormant state since March due to Coronavirus outbreak followed by the worldwide lockdown. But slowly and gradually things have been returning to normalcy, and cricket isn’t untouched from it. The upcoming England-West Indies Test series scheduled to begin from July 8, is all set to mark the return of international cricket.
However, in order to make up for the lost revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic, various cricket boards are exploring all options to field a separate red-ball and white-ball team on the same season/series/day to boost profits.
Seeing the possibility of such a scenario, experts have already started revealing their teams. In the process, former pacer Ajit Agarkar via ESPNcricinfo has come up with his 12-member squad for both Test and T20I format.
Opening with the Test format, Agarkar has picked young guns Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal to open the innings. For the number three and four spots, Agarkar went ahead with Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli. The Delhi-born is also the captain of Agarkar’s 12-man squad.
Agarkar then went with Mumbaikar Ajinkya Rahane for the fifth position and Andhra batsman Hanuma VIhari for the sixth. An interesting choice Agarkar made is that for the wicket-keeper wherein he selected Rishabh Pant ahead of Wriddhiman Saha.
Among bowlers, Agarkar opted for Ravi Ashwin as the lone spinner over Ravindra Jadeja. For the pacers, the 42-year-old Mumbaikar omitted Jasprit Bumrah and selected the three-pronged pace attack of Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami. Moreover, Agarkar picked Shubham Gill as the 12th man.
Agarkar leaves out Kohli from the T20I squad
After the Test squad, Agarkar selected his 12-man T20I team and guess what, unlike the current scenario in Indian cricket, Agarkar went with Rohit Sharma to lead the T20I team. Though he did not include Bumrah for the longest format but when it comes to the shortest one, he picked the Ahemdabad-born in the squad.
For the openers, Agarkar along with Rohit picked the Karnataka batter, KL Rahul. For the middle-order, the former fast bowler went with the talented duo of Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey, batting at three and four, respectively.
For the fifth and sixth positions, Agarkar picked power-strikers Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja. Among bowlers, the former Mumbai player went with the spin pair of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, commonly known as ‘Kulcha’.
When it comes to the pace battery, then apart from Bumrah, Agarkar selected death bowling expert Bhuvneshwar Kumar as well. He also picked speedster Navdeep Saini in the team. For the 12th man, Agarkar went with Shardul Thakur.
Here is Ajit Agarkar’s India’s Test squad: Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Shubman Gill (12th man).
Here is Ajit Agarkar’s India’s T20I squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur(12th man).
