Asked whether skipper Virat Kohli played a crucial role in Rohit being retained, chief selector Sandeep Patil said, “Rohit has vast talent but he hasn’t got a longer run in Test cricket – picked for one Test match, then rested for the entire season and then picked again”.
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Rohit scored nine and 41 in the third test in West Indies at Gros Islet and did not get a chance to bat in the final match of the series at Port of Spain, which was washed out with the visitors winning 2-0.
First test match is to be played at Green Park, Kanpur from 22 September.
“In the previous series here, spin certainly played a huge part and I think at times batting was hard”. “We know it will be a challenge, India in home conditions is one of the toughest challenge of the game in the Test format”. Although he comes on the back of a good run of scores – Williamson finished as the team’s second-highest run-getter in New Zealand’s recent tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa – he recognises the need to pull his weight as one of the team’s better players of spin bowling.
In fact, the BCCI did not make many changes to the team, which went for the tour of West Indies last month as the core remains the same.
The meeting was chaired by BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke with Test skipper Virat Kohli and coach Anil Kumble in attendance.
Underdogs in the three-Test series but serious contenders in the five-match ODI series, the Kiwis are looking to pull off a few surprises.
Kohli, if he hadn’t already, confirmed his status one of Test cricket’s most exciting players in the first Test of India’s tour of the Caribbean. “All those three are keen learners of the game and certainly we are going to put a lot of faith in them over the coming weeks”, he added.
Despite, the conditions are expected to aid spin, Hesson believes the fast bowlers will have a role to play with their reverse swing. We want him (Dhawan) to come good, not only him, we want all 15 to perform. We have discussed not only Gautam but other seniors also.
The opening slot would be taken by Dhawan and Murali Vijay, while the middle order features Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, and Cheteshwar Pujara along with Rohit.
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Ravindra Jadeja is the lone all-rounder in the squad. With conditions at home unlikely to favour pacers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav are likely to retain their places barring any injury concerns.
