MS Dhoni excluded from India's T20I squad for Windies, Australia series; Rohit Sharma returns to Test team

MS Dhoni was excluded from India’s T20I squad while captain Virat Kohli was rested as MSK Prasad-led selection committee announced the squads for the upcoming T20I series against Windies, Australia as well as the Test squad for the series Down Under on Friday. Kohli has been rested for the Windies T20I series and Rohit Sharma will be the captain in his absence. Kohli will return for Australia tour. [caption id=“attachment_4273043” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of MS Dhoni. Reuters[/caption] Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem has also been included in the T20I squad for Windies series, while Krunal Pandya has found a place in the squad for both Windies and Australia 20-over series. Rohit has also returned to the Test side after missing out on the series against Afghanistan and England. Opener Murali Vijay, who was dropped midway through the England series has been recalled to the side while Mayank Agarwal, who was part of the squad for the home Test series against Windies, has been excluded. Wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik has been replaced by veteran Parthiv Patel for the Test series against Australia. The selection committee also announced the India A squad for the first four-day match against New Zealand. Ajinkya Rahane was appointed the captain of the side. Meanwhile, Kedar Jhadav has been added to India’s ODI squad for the fourth and fifth match against Windies. Team for three T20I match series against Windies: Rohit Sharma (C), Shikhar, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Manish, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed, Umesh Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem Team for three T20I match series against Australia: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit (vc), Shikhar, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed Team for Four Test match series against Australia: Virat Kohli (C), M Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Parthiv Patel, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Shami, Ishant, Umesh, Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar. India A team for First Four-Day game against New Zealand A: M Vijay, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane (C), Parthiv Patel (wk), K Gowtham, Shahbaz Nadeem, Md Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar,R Gurbani, Vijay Shankar,KS Bharath The T20I series against Windies starts from 01 November at Kolkata. India have already won the two-match Test series by the margin of 2-0 and currently lead the five-match ODI series 1-0 with two matches played. They will begin their tour of Australia with a three-match T20I series, which starts from 21 November at Brisbane, before playing a four-match Test series and three-match ODI series. Schedule for T20I series against Windies: 01 November: 1st T20I at Eden Gardens, Kolkata 06 November: 2nd T20I at Ekana International Cricket Stadium, Lucknow 11 November: 3rd T20I at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Schedule fro T20I series against Australia 21 November: 1st T20I at The Gabba, Brisbane 23 November: 2nd T20I at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne 25 November: 3rd T20I at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Schedule for Test series against Australia: 06-10 December: 1st Test at Adelaide Oval, Adelaide 14-18 December: 2nd Test at Perth Stadium, Perth 26-30 December: 3rd Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne 03-07 January: 4th Test at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney