We are looking at future of Indian cricket: Sandeep Patil on Yuvraj, Harbhajan's axing

New Delhi: While there were several new names in the 16-man squad announced for Zimbabwe tour by Sandeep Patil & Co, two veterans which went missing from the list were Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh.

While Yuvraj has been a regular part of the Indian T20I squad since the beginning of the year, with the likes of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the team, Harbhajan warmed the bench for most of the period.

When asked why the duo was ignored for the tour, the selection committee chief pointed out that the panel is looking at the future of the country’s cricket.

“Selectors have no right to tell anyone to retire. We are looking at future of Indian cricket. We will be happy if they perform and will be happy to get them back,” Patil said.

The Zimbabwe tour comprises three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and as many Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) starting on June 11.

Here is the complete squad:

MS Dhoni (c & wk), Lokesh Rahul, Faiz Faizal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Ambati Rayudu, Rishi Dhawan, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Barinder Sran, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Jaydev Unadkat, Yuzvendra Chahal