New Delhi: Stumper-batsman Rishabh Pant and left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav were named in India’s limited-overs squad on Thursday for the team’s tour of West Indies later this month.
Pant, 19, could not make the India team for the ongoing Champions Trophy as the selectors preferred experience over youth, but has long been identified as a prospect because of his aggressive batting.
Spinner Yadav, 22, impressed on his Test debut against Australia in March, claiming 4-68 in the first innings to help India win the four-match series 2-1.
The Indian board said the “administrative staff” of the team would continue. That means coach Anil Kumble, whose original contract expires with the Champions Trophy, will stay on the job while the board determines whether to give him an extension or find a new coach.
Beginning on June 23 at the Queen’s Park Oval, India play five one-dayers against West Indies followed by a solitary Twenty20 International on July 9 at Jamaica’s Sabina Park.
Meanwhile, the third One-day International between West Indies and Afghanistan was washed out by persistent rain in Saint Lucia on Wednesday, denying the tourists a potential series victory and the hosts key rankings points.
Afghanistan won the opening the match of the series by 63 runs on the back of a stunning haul of seven for 18 from 18-year-old leg-spinner Rashid Khan, the fourth best bowling figures of all time in the 50-over format.
West Indies, desperate for wins to move up from ninth to eighth spot in the world rankings to avoid having to qualify for the 2019 World Cup, hit back to take a four-wicket victory in the second match.
After a two-hour delay on Wednesday, Afghanistan won the toss for the decisive third match and elected to bat but the rain returned before a single delivery could be bowled. The series was drawn 1-1.
