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Yet another cricketer will lead India in 2022 with Shikhar Dhawan being named the captain for the ODI series against West Indies later this month. The three-match ODI series kicks off on July 2022 and the All India Senior Selection Committee has decided to rest Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah among others, perhaps in a bid to keep them fresh for the five T20Is.
While the omission of a few names like Hardik Pandya did raise a few eyebrows, there are a few names who are surprisingly included in the Indian ODI team. In this article, we will look at four such cricketers who made a surprise entry into the squad.
1. Sanju Samson
Despite showing glimpses of his talent time and again, Sanju Samson just hasn't been able to do translate that into consistent performances. While one Samson shot could make fans go wow, the very next shot will make one think whether it is the same batter who played the previous ball.
Due to this reason, Samson has only played a solitary ODI so far in his career. That fixture came against Sri Lanka in 2021 where he scored 46 runs but India lost by 3 wickets. At this stage, trying him in an ODI game seems a bit surprising but who knows perhaps an impressive stint here can open more doors for him in the future.
2. Shubman Gill
Shubman Gill failed to make an impression in the recently concluded one-off fifth Test match against England. Given the big responsibility of opening the Indian batting in the Test match, Gill registered scores of 17 and 4 in first and second innings respectively which meant that India could not get off to good start in either innings.
Moreover, Gill has only played 3 ODIs so far and has just 49-runs under his belt. He is averaging 16.33 in ODIs and a strike rate of 69.01. In the presence of Shikhar Dhawan and Ruturaj Gaikwad, it will be interesting to see how many chances Gill will get to open the innings, if at all he is included in the Playing XI.
3. Shardul Thakur
The 30-year-old Indian all-rounder is under heavy criticism for his poor show in the one-off Test match against England. While is a regular face in red-ball cricket, his inclusion in the ODI squad for West Indies tours comes as a surprise for many.
In terms of batting, he averages 34.16 in ODIs and has only managed to score 205 runs in 19 matches he played. Speaking of his bowling, he has picked 25 wickets in 19 matches he played and conceded 1004 runs at an economy of 6.62. Sharul has a tendency to go for runs in limited-overs cricket. However, he can break the odd partnerships. But resting someone like Hardik and going with Shardul seems to be a strange call at this moment.
4. Mohammed Siraj
The Indian pacer is another cricketer who is facing a lot of flak from all quarters for his below-par performance in the recently concluded fifth Test match against England. He picked up four wickets in the first innings but at an economy rate of 5.70 while the second innings saw him return wicketless, having conceded 6.50 runs per over which is way too expensive in Test cricket.
His performance in the IPL 2022 was also not up to the mark as he picked just 9 wickets in 15 innings and conceded 514 runs. His inclusion in the ODI squad is undoubtedly a surprising one considering his poor performance in recent times.