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The BCCI has announced the Indian squad for the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe which starts on 18 August in Harare. But the entire cricketing fraternity had their eyes set on one specific detail - the inclusion of Virat Kohli and to everyone’s surprise, King Kohli wasn’t part of the squad.
The 34-year-old has been India’s best batter for more than a decade now but has been out of form in the recent past. Kohli hasn’t scored a century in over 78 innings and hence reports surrounding resting him over the ongoing West Indies tour surfaced. But, as per recent reports, cricket fans would be soon witnessing Virat Kohli’s return to the upcoming Asia Cup tournament hosted in UAE.
According to a media source, the batter had a discussion with the national selectors and where he stated that he would be available for the Asia Cup later next month. Notably, the Indian team has an extremely busy schedule until the T20 World Cup in Australia, beginning in October.
While talking to Hindustan Times, the source was quoted saying, “Virat had spoken to selectors that he would be available from the Asia Cup onwards. The first team players will hardly get rest from Asia Cup till end of World T20. Hence this is a two-week window after Windies tour when they can rest.”
Talking about the Zimbabwe tour, the Indian team would see the return of fast-bowling all-rounder Deepak Chahar to the squad. The Rajasthan-born has been out of the team over the last five months after suffering hamstring and back injuries. Tamil Nadu off-spinner Washington Sundar has also received a call up citing a stellar performance for Lancashire in the County Championship.
Suryakumar Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Arshdeep Singh who are currently playing in the white ball series in the Caribbean have been rested along with senior stars like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Shami and Hardik Pandya.
India squad for Zimbabwe:
Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Deepak Chahar.