Umesh and Shami return to the ODI squad, Ashwin & Jadeja rested while Yuvraj ignored!

The fast bowling duo of Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav have returned to the ODI Squad for the first three ODIs against Australia, while Shardul Thakur is the only player dropped from the squad which played against Sri Lanka. However, Shardul was listed in the India 'A' squad for the two match series against New Zealand 'A' later this month.

The team management, which has been careful with the workload of the injury-prone Shami, had rested the right arm seamer for the ODI series against Sri Lanka. He bagged 10 wickets in the preceding test series and will return to play his first ODI since the Windies Tour. Umesh, like his mate Shami, had been picked for the Test Series and was rested for the limited over leg against Sri Lanka.

Left arm spinner Axar Patel and leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, due to their bright performances in recently concluded series against Sri Lanka will be given an extended run.

As expected, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravichandran Jadeja continue to be rested. During this phase though, Ashwin will continue playing for Worcestershire in the second division of the English County Cup.

Yuvraj Singh who was not in the squad for the Sri Lanka series was expected to return after chief selector MSK Prasad said that he was rested and not dropped, but he was ignored this time.

"The team for the three ODIs against Australia has been selected in line with the rotation policy of the Board and accordingly R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been rested," Prasad said.

The former India stumper added, "The team's performance during the Sri Lanka tour was outstanding and players like Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal, who performed very well are being given an extended run and this will in turn supplement our approach, to build a strong reserve strength, as we prepare for forthcoming tours."

KL Rahul will be under pressure to upscale his performance on his new batting position - Number 4, where he managed to get only 28 runs in the three innings which he batted.

The first three ODIs will be played in Chennai, Kolkata and Indore. The last two ODIs of the 5 match ODI series will be played in Bangalore and Nagpur. The first ODI will be played on 17th September.

India Squad : Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.

Cheers,
Sparsh