Team India is all set to travel to Australia to play three T20s, three ODIs and four Test matches. The first two ODIs will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 27 and 29 November. After this, the last ODI will be held at Manuka Oval in Canberra. The first T20 will also be played in Canberra followed by the last two T20s in Sydney.
The pink ball test will be played in the floodlight in Adelaide from December 17 to 21.
The squads for the Australia tour are yet to announce by Indian Selectors. According to reports, the selection committee headed by selector Sunil Joshi is going to announce the squad for the Australia tour on Monday, October 26.
Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket Australia (CA) are yet to officially announce the fixtures. The jumbo squad of India will land in Australia next month.
During the selection meeting, all eyes will be on the likes of Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw and Hardik Pandya. Shaw might get a chance in the red-ball team but Shubman Gill may lose his spot in the ODI team.
Pandya, on the other hand, is performing sensationally in IPL 2020 might not be recalled in the Test side.
Talking about Wicket-Keeper batsman Rishabh Pant, he might miss out on selection altogether. According to ‘The Times of India’, Pant is currently facing weight issues and the team India’s fitness trainer had a conversation with him. He is ‘overweight’ according to the report.
It would not be the first time that a player is being dropped from the National team due to fitness issues. In the past three years, many players have been dropped from the national team due to fitness issues.
“The Indian team fitness trainer had shared his perspective on Pant some days ago and we believe he’s overweight. Regardless of what’s obvious on the field, the BCCI and the selectors will have to take the fitness report on Pant into consideration before they can pick him. The selectors need to speak to trainer Nick Webb before taking the call,” a source told TOI.
In case if Rishabh Pant is selected then it is expected that he will not make it to the playing XI fin ODIs and T20Is. KL Rahul has been backed to do the wicketkeeping job in white-ball cricket. He played all eight white-ball matches in New Zealand while Rishabh sat out.
Rishabh Pant was India’s second-highest run-scorer, with 350 runs in seven innings, the last time India toured Australia.
Talking about senior pacers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma got injured during IPL 2020 and ruled out of the mid-tournament so they will be unavailable for selection.
