The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Saturday added two players, wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan and big-hitter Shahrukh Khan, to the squad for the first ODI against the West Indies scheduled to be played in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
The two players have been added to the squad on the eve of the ODI series opener after three of the players in the initial 18-man squad tested positive for Covid-19. Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shreyas Iyer were the three along with standby player Navdeep Saini to contract the virus after arriving in Ahmedabad.
Notably, India added Mayank Agarwal to the ODI squad earlier this week but captain Rohit Sharma confirmed on Saturday that the Karnataka batter is still in quarantine. He said he will open with Ishan Kishan in the first ODI, which also will be India’s 1000th in the 50-over format of the game.
KL Rahul, the vice-captain of the team, is not available for the first ODI due to personal reasons, the BCCI had said when announcing the initial squad.
“The All-India Senior Selection Committee has added Ishan Kishan and Shahrukh Khan to India’s squad for the first ODI against the West Indies to be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday,” the BCCI said in a release.
India vs West Indies, 1st ODI Squad
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Ishan Kishan, Shahrukh Khan.
Earlier in the day, Rohit shed light on the progress of the players who tested positive for Covid, confirming that Ishan will open with him in the 1st ODI.
“Ishan is the only option we have and he will open with me in the first ODI,” said Rohit.
“Shikhar, Ruturaj and Shreyas are still in isolation. Mayank was added to the squad and he is still in quarantine. He joined us late and we have certain Covid safety rules in place. If someone is travelling, we have to put them in (mandatory three-day) quarantine. He has still not finished his quarantine, so Ishan will open the innings.”
While Ishan played 2 ODIs against Sri Lanka last year, hitting a fifty on his ODI debut, Shahrukh gets his maiden ODI call-up after impressive performances in IPL 2021, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy. The Tamil Nadu big-hitter is also expected to trigger a bidding war in the IPL 2022 auction, scheduled to be held in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13.
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