The BCCI’s national selection committee on Thursday made just one change to the Indian Test team for the upcoming three-Test tour of Sri Lanka, giving leg-spinner Amit Mishra a Test cap after four years.
Mishra, whose last Test match was against England at The Oval in 2011, earned a recall to the squad as a replacement for Karn Sharma, who was injured before the side’s recently concluded tour of Zimbabwe.
Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri will continue as captain and team director, respectively. Opener KL Rahul, who missed the Test in Bangladesh because of dengue fever and was replaced by Shikhar Dhawan, too was included.
After returning to the Test team in the one-off match against Zimbabwe, Harbhajan Singh will continue his comeback in the five-day format in the series beginning on August 12.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has not been included in the team.
“Karn Sharma and Mohammed Shami are injured and hence were not considered for the Sri Lanka Tests,” chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil said, explaining the reason for Sharma’s exclusion.
On the possible inclusion of former opener Gautam Gambhir, Patil told a news conference, “No, he was not discussed.”
Asked about ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s recent criticism of India’s pace attack, Patil said, “Dhoni is entitled to his views.”
The selection committee could not escape questions about the recent verdict of the Justice Lodha committee suspending IPL franchises Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings and the subsequent formation of a BCCI working group to study the ruling.
“Teams are not terminated, just suspended. We have formed a committee to look into it,” said BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur.
India team for Sri Lanka Tests: Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Mishra, Varun Aaron, Harbhajan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav.
