New Delhi: Despite the ongoing existential crisis, the Indian cricket team for the limited overs' series against England is likely to be selected on Friday.
The focus will be on the fitness of the skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who last played an international match – an ODI match against New Zealand – last October.
The 35-year-old was, however, was seen slogging out at Nagpur where his state team Jharjhand lost their Ranji Trophy semi-final to Gujarat by 123 runs today.
The skipper was even spotted engaging with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selection committee chairman MSK Prasad.
The MSK Prasad-led selection committee will select the teams for the ODIs and T20Is against England on Friday, even though there is no certainty who will be in the panel.
A report in Sportstar claimed that India's selection committee will meet in Mumbai on Friday.
It also said that the committee will also select an India 'A' team for warm-up match against England.
Further reports claimed that it will be MSK Prasad, Devang Gandhi and Sarandeep Singh — all Test players — who will carried out the duty. Two other members of the committee, Gagan Khoda and Jatin Paranjpe, are likely to give the meeting a miss considering the recent Supreme Court action.
Both Khoda and Paranjpe failed to meet to criteria set by Lodha Committee.
However, it's all but given that Dhoni is leading the team, and keeping the importance of the ICC 2017 Champions Trophy in June, the selectors are likely to try out few combinations.
And it was also reported that India's bowling stars Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, and also Jayant Yadav are likely to be given rest. The same has been said about unfit Mohammed Shami.
In such an scenario, few bowlers, who also can bat, are likely to be given chances. But don't be surprised if old war-horse Ashish Nehra makes a comeback.
In the batting department, two Mumbai batsman Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane are still struggling with fitness. And will probably miss the series.
Here's a possible 15-member squad for the dual ODI and T2OI series:
Openers: KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shikhar Dhawan
Middle order: Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav
Pacers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ahish Nehra, Hardik Pandya
Spinners: Amit Mishra, Kuldeep Yadav, Parvez Rasool
The first of the three ODI matches will be played on January 15 in Pune. There will be another three-match T20I series.
