Page 48 - The Indian EYE 020422

SpORTS FEBRUARY 04, 2022 | The Indian Eye 48

Former coach Ravi Shastri wants Virat Kohli to take a break (ANI) Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been dropped because of poor form (ANI)

of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) er’s YouTube channel.
on Wednesday picked an 18-member “To come back and play those
squad for the upcoming ODI and three-four years as king, absolute king.
T20I series against the West Indies. You know where he is clear mentally,
Meanwhile, the Cricket West In-
dies (CWI) Selection Panel has an- knows exactly what his job and role
are, and then plays as a team player,
nounced the senior men’s squad for that’s where I want to see Virat Kohli
the upcoming three-match ODI series now. To come, contribute big time as
against India. a team player and help the team win,”
The West Indies will visit the
sub-continent from February 6 to 20, he added.
The leadership also brought out
where they will also play three T20Is. the best in Kohli and it saw the batter
The ODIs will be played at the Naren- registering seven double-centuries in
dra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on the longest format of the game. Kohli
February 6, 9, and 11. These match- also holds the record for scoring most
es form part of the ICC ODI Super Test centuries (20) as India captain.
League and the West Indies will have
the opportunity to win points to be INDIA ODI SqUAD
one of the top seven teams, excluding
hosts India, to gain automatic qualifi- Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Ra-
cation for the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket hul (Vice-captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad,
World Cup. Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Surya
The T20Is will be played at Eden Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak
Gardens in Kolkata on February 16, Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper),
18, and 20, with the squad expected to Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Yuz-
be announced on Friday. vendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Wash-
Kemar Roach, the experienced ington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohd.
fast bowler; Nkrumah Bonner, the Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan
middle-order batter, and Brandon West Indies’s skipper Kieron Pollard (ANI) INDIA T20I SqUAD
King, the opening batter, have been
recalled to the squad. Roach has so far competition for places. We want to He holds the record for most Test ap- Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul
played 92 ODIs with 124 wickets. Bon- reach a stage where we have a lot of pearances as India Test captain (68) (Vice-captain), Ishan Kishan, Virat
ner made his ODI debut in Bangla- players fighting for positions. We and he also holds the record for most Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Ya-
desh a year ago and has so far played want to broaden the pool of players Test wins by an Indian captain (40). dav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper),
three matches, while King has so far we have to choose from. The team we Shastri wants Kohli to calm down Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shar-
played four matches in this format. have selected is a very good side and and focus on his batting. He feels the dul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Axar Patel,
Lead Selector, Desmond Haynes, we are looking at this tour as part of former India skipper has five years of Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sund-
said: “Kemar Roach is one of our the preparations for the World Cup in “good” cricket left in him. ar, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,
leading fast bowlers and we believe we India in 2023.” “He realizes he is 33, he realiz- Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel.
need bowlers upfront to get an early In another development, former es he has five years of good cricket WEST INDIES SqUAD
wicket, and Kemar, with an economy Team India head coach Ravi Shastri ahead of him. If he can calm down,
rate of five, is certainly good enough to has suggested that Virat Kohli can focus on his batting, take one game Kieron Pollard (c), Kemar Roach, Nk-
play. Over the last few years, Nkrumah play the next three-four years as a gun at a time, probably take a break from rumah Bonner, Brandon King, Fabien
Bonner’s cricket has come on leaps player if he takes a break from a series the game as well. I think if he sits out Allen, Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks,
and bounds and we believe he should for two or three months. for two or three months or takes a Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Ho-
be given an opportunity to play in the Kohli had stepped down as the break for a series, it would do him a sein, Alzarri Joseph, Nicholas Pooran,
50-over format.” Test skipper after India suffered a world of good,” Shastri told Shoaib Romario Shephard, Odean Smith,
Haynes added: “We want to have Test series loss against South Africa. Akhtar on the former Pakistan pac- Hayden Walsh Jr.

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