Star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja will make a comeback to India's Test and ODI squads for the tour of Bangladesh in December, the chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma announced on Monday.
The 33-year-old Jadeja had missed out on the ongoing T20 World Cup because of a knee injury he suffered during the Asia Cup in August and subsequent surgery. In the last few weeks, the all-rounder has shared videos of his recovery, giving the idea that he is making steady progress and is on the road to recovery.
Chief selector Sharma mentioned that Jadeja's inclusion in the squad is subject to his fitness test.
Meanwhile, senior players Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul will also return for the tour of Bangladesh, after taking a break from the tour of New Zealand in November, which begins five days after the T20 World Cup final in Australia.
Rajat Patidar and Rahul Tripathi, who impressed with their batting performances during the white-ball series between India A and New Zealand A, have been rewarded with a place in the squad for Bangladesh ODIs as well. Uttar Pradesh's left-arm pacer Yash Dayal, who is also part of the ODI squad, has earned his maiden India call-up.
However, Jasprit Bumrah, who also missed the ongoing T20 World Cup in Australia because of a back injury, continues his recovery from a back injury and will miss out for the tours of New Zealand and Bangladesh.
When asked about the timeframe of his return, Sharma said the selectors did not want to rush him back into the side.
"I always speak about managing the players. Workload management is something we follow very closely. We tried to hurry up with Jasprit Bumrah when the World Cup was approaching and look at what happened, we are without Jasprit Bumrah in the World Cup. The NCA team and the medical team are looking after him very well and he will definitely be part and parcel of the team very soon, definitely against Australia. But against Bangladesh we were a little cautious with Jasprit Bumrah, we tried to not repeat what we did earlier," the Chief selector said.
"There is a reason behind resting players, the selectors don't enjoy changing teams and captains. But considering the volume of cricket and the load management of players, we have to keep looking after their bodies. At the end of the day, they are human. But he (Bumrah) will be back soon, there are good teams working with him and I'm hopeful that he'll start playing for India soon," he added.
While Hanuma Vihari has been dropped from the squad for the two-Test series, which is part of the ICC World Test Championship, Ajinkya Rahane continues to miss out on selection after having been dropped for the series against Sri Lanka and the fifth Test against England.
"The doors are always open for those who perform. Cheteshwar Pujara performed and he is there (in the team). Ajinkya Rahane is trying hard, and also scored some runs, but to return to the team he has to score more runs. And he knows that, he's in constant touch with the selection committee," said Sharma about the exclusion of Rahane.
"The Ranji Trophy is coming up and Vijay Hazare is also there. Let's hope that he performs well, the doors are always open for those who perform. If you look at the middle order and how packed it is, even Hanuma Vihari doesn't have a place. So to break into this, the kind of performance that is required, the selectors don't have to tell Ajinkya about it. He understands that. He is a great player, played 90-odd Test matches and he knows how to get into the team," he added.
India's tour of Bangladesh starts with the ODI leg, with the three matches to be played on December 4, 7 and 10 in Dhaka.
The first Test will be played from December 14-18 in Chattogram and the teams will return to Dhaka for the second Test which will be held from December 22-26. The Test matches are part of the ICC Test Championship.
India Test squad: Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav
India ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Yash Dayal