BCCI announces India squads for Australia tour; Yuvraj Singh, Ashish Nehra Nehra in T20 team

Yuvraj Singh makes a comeback to Team India, as selectors surprised everyone by picking a seemingly perfect blend of old guards young bloods for Australia tour.

New Delhi: Indian teams for the tour of Australia were announced on Saturday by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) with Yuvraj Singh making a comeback. The selectors surprised everyone by picking the old guards like Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra, and also by giving chances to youngsters who have performed well in domestic circuit like Brainder Sran and Hardik Pandya.

Two separate teams of 15 members each were picked for the tour, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni retaining his position as the skipper for both the outfits.

T20 Team #AusvIND : Shikhar, Rohit, Virat,Rahane, Yuvraj, MSD (C),Raina, Ashwin, Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Harbhajan, Umesh, Hardik, Bhuvi, Nehra — BCCI (@BCCI) December 19, 2015

Yuvraj Singh, who has impressed everyone with his performance in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, was expected to get the recall. However, the big surprise is the dropping of Suresh Raina, who has been one of the batting mainstay in the batting department, from the ODI squad. And Stuart Binny also failed to make the cut.

Another surprise is the return of Ashish Nehra in the T20 squad.

The selectors rewarded Jadeja for his impressive performance in the recently concluded Freedom Series against South Africa. He is been included in both the squads.

ODI Team #AusvIND: Shikhar, Rohit, Virat, Rahane, Manish, MSD (C), Ashwin,Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Axar, Ishant, Umesh, Gurkeerat, Rishi, Sran — BCCI (@BCCI) December 19, 2015

His return to the national team all the more holds importance considering the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup in India.

Yuvraj Singh, who has impressed everyone with his performance in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, was expected to get the recall.

Besides the usual suspects, the BCCI also provided opportunities to upcoming talents, with Brainder Sran, Rishi Dhawan and Manish Pandey getting their national call-ups.

Mohammed Shami, who underwent a knee surgery post World Cup , also made a return in both the squads.

The Sandeep Patil-led national selectors met in Delhi to decide the team. Limited overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, BCCI secretary were also present in the meeting.

In the recently-concluded series against South Africa, India lost both the T20 matches and the ODI series 2-3 under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. India tried 14 players in the ODI series and 12 in the T20 games.

It's believed that the team was selected keeping in view of the 2016 ICC World T20, which is being held in India.

Announcing the squads, Patil said that the tour will "give selectors a chance to take a look at other players".

"We will need experienced players in the T20 WC. Australia tour perfect chance to give them a shot," he added.

Here are the teams:

ODI: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(C), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Maan, Rishi Dhawan, Brainder Sran

T20: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(C), Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Harbhajan Singh, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra

The tour comprises five ODIs and three T20 Internationals to be played between January 12 and 31 at Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney (ODIs), Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney (T20Is).

The squad is expected to leave for Australia on January 6.