Rahane will captain India throughout their tour of Zimbabwe
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Batsman Ajinkya Rahane will captain a second-string India side during their tour of Zimbabwe, which will consist of three ODIs and two Twenty20 Internationals.
Regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan and Umesh Yadav have all been rested after a disappointing tour of Bangladesh, which saw India lose the ODI series 2-1.
“Until the players themselves request for a rest, we don ‘t rest them,” Sandeep Patil, the chairman of the selectors said. “We sent a full-strength side to Bangladesh, but this time the players communicated to us that they needed the rest.”
With more than half of India’s regular ODI squad being rested, the national selectors have decided to bring in Robin Uthappa, Kedar Jadhav and Ambati Rayudu as all three of them are certified wicketkeeper-batsmen.
In terms of regular batsmen, India have turned to Murali Vijay, Manish Pandey and Manoj Tiwary.
Even though India retained spinner Axar Patel, they decided to bolster their spin attack by including Karn Sharma and Harbhajan Singh, whose last ODI came in 2011 and most recent Twenty20 International came in 2012.
Meanwhile, India’s pace line-up will consist of Dhawal Kulkarni, Stuart Binny, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit Sharma and uncapped Sandeep Sharma.
India ODI squad: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Murali Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, Manoj Tiwary, Kedar Jadhav, Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Harbhajan Singh, Axar Patel, Karn Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Stuart Binny, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma