By Amlan Chakraborty
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India named an unchanged squad for the last two tests again Australia on Sunday, leaving out pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah who is recovering from a back injury.
Bumrah has not played international cricket since September and missed the T20 World Cup in Australia.
He was left out of the first two tests against Australia but India captain Rohit Sharma was optimistic the 29-year-old would be available for the last two matches of the series.
With India 2-0 up in the series and a 50-overs home World Cup looming later this year, the selectors have also kept Bumrah out of the one-day squad for the three-match series against Australia next month.
Rohit will miss the opening ODI on March 17 “due to family commitments”, the Indian cricket board said, and Hardik Pandya will lead the side in Mumbai.
Struggling opener KL Rahul retained his place for the last two tests against Australia but is no longer vice-captain of the side.
Test squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Srikar Bharat (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat
ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Jaydev Unadkat
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Ed Osmond)
