Mumbai/Nagpur: Mahendra Singh Dhoni will lead a 16-member squad for India’s short limited-overs tour of Zimbabwe from June 11-22.Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been rested.
Among those selected as a matter of great pride is Nagpur’s Faiz Fasal, a resident of Mahdibag.
Fazal is a 30-year-old left-handed opening batsman who plays for Vidarbha and bowls right-arm medium. Faiz made his first-class debut against Jammu & Kashmir for Vidarbha in 2003. He has played 79 first-class matches and averages slightly over 40.
Here is all you need to know about Faiz Fazal.
1) Fazal was born on September 7, 1985, in Nagpur, Maharashtra.
2) In his first-class debut match against Jammu & Kashmir, Fazal scored 151 in the 1st innings. Vidarbha went on to win the match by an innings and 112 runs.
3) In his List A debut against Rajasthan, Fazal was out for a first-ball duck. However, Vidarbha won that match by 63 runs.
4) In his T20 debut for Vidarbha, Fazal failed to open his account and was out for a duck after facing four deliveries.
5) Fazal is currently the vice-captain of the Vidarbha team which is led by Subramaniam Badrinath.
6) Fazal went unsold in the IPL 2016 auction and had a base price of Rs. 10 lakhs. However, he has represented Rajasthan Royals in 2010 and 2011 seasons. He has played 12 IPL matches, scoring scored 183 runs.
7) He is currently in England playing for Hetton Lyons Cricket Club in North East Premier League Premier Division in Durham County.
8) Fazal has been in good form this year and scored 127 against Mumbai in Irani Cup in March to help his side chase down mammoth 480. In the final of Deodhar Trophy this year, the left-hander scored match-winning 100 for India A against India B
Yuvraj Singh, who was part of the T20 side since the tour of Australia early this year and played crucial knocks in the Asia Cup T20 and the World T20, has also not been named in the squad. The flamboyant all-rounder missed India’s semi-final defeat against West Indies in the World T20 but made a decent comeback during the Indian Premier League for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
India’s tour of Zimbabwe will comprise three ODIs on June 11, 13 and 15 and three T20s which have been scheduled for June 18, 20 and 22. All the matches would be played in Harare.
India had last played one-day internationals against Australia in January, losing the five-match series 1-4. They have since only played T20 Internationals and had a remarkable run till their defeat in the World T20 semi-final.
BCCI sources had earlier said the selectors would not consider the seniors for Zimbabwe as the board felt they needed some rest after a long cricket season. However, it was reported that the selectors had left it to Dhoni to decide whether or not he would be touring with a young team.
Squad for Zimbabwe tour: MS Dhoni (Captain and wicketkeeper), Lokesh Rahul, Faiz Fasal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Ambati Rayudu, Rishi Dhawan, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaspreet Bumrah, Barinder Sran, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Jaydev Unadkat, Yuzvendra Chahal
