Ishant dropped from Asia Cup, WT20 squads; Pujara in ODI squad

Following the debacle in the New Zealand One-Day Internationals, the selectors finally lost patience with the under-performing Suresh Raina and Ishant Sharma and axed them from India’s squad for the Asia Cup later this month.

Cheteshwar Pujara, who played two ODIs in Zimbabwe in August, made a comeback to the squad.

Ishant, as expected, was also dropped from the World T20 squad after a poor show in the five-match ODI series in New Zealand, in which he took just two wickets in the two matches he played.

Left-hander Raina’s axing from the ODI squad was also on expected lines as he scored just a single half-century in his last 24 innings since June.

He also failed with the bat in New Zealand, scoring 84 runs in three matches, before making way for Ambati Rayudu.

Amit Mishra and Ishwar Pandey, who did not get a single match against the Kiwis, were retained in the ODI squad.

Meanwhile, Stuart Binny, Mohit Sharma and Varun Aaron were named in India’s 15-man squad for the ICC World T20, to be held in Bangladesh next month, which saw Yuvraj Singh and Raina, who were axed from the ODI team, being retained.

Ajinkya Rahane, who excelled with the bat for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, made a comeback to the WT20 squad.

He will face competition for a slot in the middle order from both Yuvraj and Raina.

Karnataka all-rounder Binny, who hit a century in the ongoing Irani Trophy match against Rest of India, got the nod in both squads, while Haryana pacer Mohit, who impressed with the ball for Chennai Super Kings, was included for the World T20.

Aaron recently made a comeback to the Indian team for the ODI series in New Zealand, where he claimed four wickets in three matches.

India last played a T20 match against Australia in October, in Rajkot, where Yuvraj hammered 77 from 35 balls to lead India to a six-wicket victory.

R Vinay Kumar, who figured in that team, failed to retain his place in the squad for the WT20.

The axe also fell on Rayudu and Jaydev Unadkat.

India were winners of the inaugural World T20, held in South Africa, in 2007.

Asia Cup squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ambati Rayudu, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Varun Aaron, Stuart Binny, Amit Mishra, Ishwar Pandey.

ICC WT20 squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Stuart Binny, Amit Mishra, Mohit Sharma, Varun Aaron.

Image: Cheteshwar Pujara