Bengaluru: With 2019 World Cup in mind, the Indian selection committee on Saturday brought back veteran left-hander Suresh Raina in the One-Day squad for the England tour, replacing Ambati Rayudu, who failed his fitness test.
The 31-year-old Raina, a seasoned campaigner of 223 ODIs with 5568 runs under his belt, is a part of the current T20 squad. He beat an in-form Rishabh Pant due to his vast experience.
Raina last played 50-over format in 2015 October and is making a comeback after two years and 8 months.
Rayudu’s YoYo Test failure has come as a shock for many, especially after a successful IPL campaign (602 runs) with Chennai Super Kings. Rayudu scored a dismal 14 in the test with qualifying mark being 16.1.
With MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik already in the squad, Pant despite his brilliant IPL form was overlooked.
There is a section in BCCI which even feels that Ajinkya Rahane’s limited overs case has not been handled well by the selectors and the current team management (skipper Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri), a senior BCCI official told PTI.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma, who had taken permission from the BCCI to skip the 15 June YoYo test on that particular day, will appear for the same at the NCA on Sunday.
“Rohit had taken permission from the BCCI for his personal engagements (he is in Russia as a brand ambassador of a watch company). There’s no rule that all tests have to be conducted on the same day. He will be appearing for the YoYo Test tomorrow,” GM (cricket Operations) Saba Karim said.
“Ankit Vaishnav”
