India v Sri Lanka: Rohit Sharma appointed as India's Test Captain / Pujara and Rahane dropped

[Varun]

Rohit Sharma, who was appointed as India's white-ball captain a couple of months back, has been named as the full-time captain in the red-ball format as well.

The 34-year-old's appointment comes after Virat Kohli's decision to step down from the position following India's Test series loss to South Africa in January. India lost the three-match series against the Proteas 2-1, despite starting the series with a win.

The two-match home Test series against Sri Lanka, beginning on 1 March, is supposed to be Rohit's first assignment as the full-time Test captain. He has become a vital member of the Test side since the last couple of years and has become a mainstay at the top of the order as well.

Even though India had other young options like KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant to consider for Test captaincy, the selectors have decided to go with the experience of Rohit as a stop-gap option.

Rohit has amassed 3047 runs in 43 Test matches so far, at a pretty good average of 46.87. Almost 50 percent of these runs have come since he started opening the innings, that too at a much better average of 58.48. He already has eight centuries and 14 fifties to his name in Tests, and this tally is expected to increase further in the time ahead.

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/2475079?sf160552025=1

Hallelujah! And Rohit has been appointed as full-time captain.

 

[Mamoon]

India can beat Sri Lanka with its U-15 side. This is the perfect opportunity to replace this two expired articles and give chances to two younger batsmen.

 

[CrIc_Mystique]

Disappointed with team. I would have taken Ishan porel now that Ishant wasnt selected, this was the ideal series to grrom him. he's an apt like for like replacement for Ishant (even name is similar, but for the T
the other alternative would be Prasiddh Krishna who could be the guy who bowls the 25 overs per day and keeps runs tight. But the real disappointment is no young pacers, i felt Shami might have been rested and they tried mavi or tyagi or some othe ryoung guy. am surprised Akshar patel is not selectd.

 

[Rohan]

Rohit is great captaincy material but must admit that there is no long term vision in this decision provided he is almost 35 years and not the fittest one either.

Should make a younger guy captain and give 2-3 years to groom under seniors’ guidance.

 

[YousafTheBeast]

India can beat Sri Lanka with its U-15 side. This is the perfect opportunity to replace this two expired articles and give chances to two younger batsmen.

You put way too much unnecessary pressure on yourself…now imagine if India loses this series.

 

[James]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="in" dir="ltr">Test squad - Rohit Sharma (C), Priyank Panchal, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubhman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharath, R Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Sourabh Kumar, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Mohd. Shami, Jasprit Bumrah (VC).</p>— BCCI (@BCCI) <a href="https://twitter.com/BCCI/status/1494993166058983426?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Ab Fan]

India might be missing spinners here. But I believe India have got better pacers and better batsman too. The margin in terms of both teams playing vs spin is not big though so on a rank turner, Sri Lanka has some chances to win.

Considering that there is a chance that both Ashwin and Axar can be absent, I like the overall team that is picked. Bumrah and Shami should be playing these tests too alongwith Umesh or Siraj.

Mayank is a beast in Asia and Iyer's game is also suited to these conditions. Gill should bat at 3 and look to make it his own slot.

 

[Ab Fan]

India can beat Sri Lanka with its U-15 side. This is the perfect opportunity to replace this two expired articles and give chances to two younger batsmen.

Let us respect the opposition. These are farcical comments and it is beyond overhyping, or even beyond trolling as well.

 

[MP2011]

Rahane and Pujara ideally should have played their last ever game for India. They have only themselves to blame for this ignonimy of being dropped.

Don't think any other cricketer would have got so many chances despite them failing for so long and that too when they were strictly average in their whole careers, more so when we speak about a cricket nation which is obsessed with the batting.

 

[MP2011]

Also, saw Saha blabbering a lot about Dravid and Ganguly for his non selection. That Dravid asked him to retire.

Again, he has only himself to blame for this situation. He has been such a dire batsmen.

Had he been good and fit enough in the first place, Pant would still have been waiting for a chance to play test cricket for India.

 

[cricketjoshila]

Rohit
Gill
Vihari
Kohli
Iyer
Pant
Jadeja
Ashwin
Shami
Bumrah
Siraj

Seems the team selects itself

 

[cricketjoshila]

India might be missing spinners here. But I believe India have got better pacers and better batsman too. The margin in terms of both teams playing vs spin is not big though so on a rank turner, Sri Lanka has some chances to win.

Considering that there is a chance that both Ashwin and Axar can be absent, I like the overall team that is picked. Bumrah and Shami should be playing these tests too alongwith Umesh or Siraj.

Mayank is a beast in Asia and Iyer's game is also suited to these conditions. Gill should bat at 3 and look to make it his own slot.

There are 5 spinners.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/2491686

Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have been excluded from the Test side as India announced their squads for the Test and T20I series against Sri Lanka.

The two veterans have struggled in the longest format over the past couple of years leading to their exclusion. Ravichandran Ashwin has been included in the side but his availability for the series will be subject to fitness. Ravindra Jadeja and Shubman Gill also return to the squad after being passed fit while there is also a call-up for left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar. KL Rahul will also be unavailable due to concerns surrounding his fitness.

Jasprit Bumrah has been named as the vice-captain of both the Test and the T20I sides for the series against the Sri Lankans, returning to the squad after the series in South Africa.

For the T20I series, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant have been rested with Jadeja returning to the T20I setup. There is also a recall for Sanju Samson who could also get a look in with Kohli, Rahul and Pant missing.

The three-match T20I series will be played between February 24-27 in Lucknow and Dharamsala. The two Tests will take place between March 4-16 in Mohali and Bengaluru.

India Test squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), R Ashwin (subject to fitness), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Saurabh Kumar.

India T20I squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Sanju Samson, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

It seems they have dropped(not rested) Kohli and Pant from T20 format after poor performances?

 

[Rajdeep]

It seems they have dropped(not rested) Kohli and Pant from T20 format after poor performances?

Nope both rested. Pant just won Man of the match in last game and Kohli batted brilliantly as well.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

Let us respect the opposition. These are farcical comments and it is beyond overhyping, or even beyond trolling as well.

India has never lost a single match against Sri Lanka at home, and 9 of 11 wins were by an innings

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Nope both rested. Pant just won Man of the match in last game and Kohli batted brilliantly as well.

Pant's T20 record is really poor. Winning 1 MOTM won't make any difference. You have to see the bigger picture. I still think KL Rahul should play as a wicketkeeper batsman in T20s which will give Indian team more bowling/batting options.

 

[sweep_shot]

Rohit is a good captain. So, not a bad move.

Rahane and Pujara deserved to be dropped.

 

[Ab Fan]

There are 5 spinners.

Ashwin's fitness is not a surety here. Also, Axar and Washington are unavailable.

Only Jadeja is there who has become a batting A/R of late. Kuldeep, Jayant have been mediocre from quite some time now.

 

[Ab Fan]

Also, Pant should be given the vice captaincy now. Rahul is an uninspiring captain. Rest like Kishan or Samson are nowhere in the scheme of things and turned out to be worse player than Pant in every format. They are good as backups only

 

[Thanos]

What a waste this year is for any test cricket fan.
Only 4 test matches. Two already done against SA. Remaining two against Srilanka. That's it.

 

[James]

What a waste this year is for any test cricket fan.
Only 4 test matches. Two already done against SA. Remaining two against Srilanka. That's it.

Really? That’s poor.

 

[Rajdeep]

What a waste this year is for any test cricket fan.
Only 4 test matches. Two already done against SA. Remaining two against Srilanka. That's it.

1 against England too in England.

 

[cricketjoshila]

What a waste this year is for any test cricket fan.
Only 4 test matches. Two already done against SA. Remaining two against Srilanka. That's it.

There is a BD tour i hear.

 

[Romali_rotti]

Rohit
Gill
Vihari
Kohli
Iyer
Pant
Jadeja
Ashwin
Shami
Bumrah
Siraj

Seems the team selects itself

Solid team on paper as far as batting goes in Indian conditions, however in places like Aus, NZ, ENG etc this batting barring 3 players wont show much resistance imo.

Anyway good to hear Pujara and Rahane are now done, they have been just mere passengers for a while now.

 

[RamLakhan]

Solid team on paper as far as batting goes in Indian conditions, however in places like Aus, NZ, ENG etc this batting barring 3 players wont show much resistance imo.

Anyway good to hear Pujara and Rahane are now done, they have been just mere passengers for a while now.

Team Management may revert back to them if new batsmen struggle a bit in overseas tours initially!

 

[Bhaijaan]

This team is badly missing Puji and Jinx