Mukund recalled, Saha back at Parthiv’s cost for Bangladesh Test

Abhinav Mukund

New Delhi, Jan 31- Tamil Nadu opening batsman Abhinav Mukund’s consistency in domestic cricket was on Tuesday recognised by the BCCI selectors, who picked him for the one-off Test against Bangladesh, starting February 9 in Hyderabad.

But despite guiding his state side Gujarat to their maiden Ranji Trophy win with a scintillating century, seasoned wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel was dropped to accommodate Bengal stumper Wriddhiman Saha.

Saha, who announced his return to competitive cricket with his maiden first class double ton, recently helped Rest of India (ROI) clinch the Irani Cup defeating Ranji champions Gujarat.

Also making a comeback to the 16-member squad after recovering from their respective injuries are Tamil Nadu’s Murali Vijay, middle order mainstay Ajinkya Rahane and all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Jayant Singh.

Vijay, who returned to competitive cricket after a month during Tamil Nadu’s Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 match against Goa on Tuesday, had suffered a shoulder injury during India’s fifth and final Test against England.

The spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who were rested for the limited overs series against England, were also recalled to the Test side.

The selectors also overlooked the non-performing Delhi opening duo of Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir, who have been ineffective with the willow in the ongoing inter-state T20 tournament.

The selectors also named all-rounder Hardik Pandya to lead the India A side for the three-day practice game against the visiting Australians from February 16 in Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium.

Earlier, the selection committee meeting was reportedly delayed after Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) joint secretary Amitabh Choudhary was barred by the newly-appointed committee of administrators who instead asked board CEO Rahul Johri to convene the selection meet.

India team for Bangladesh Test: Virat Kohli (Captain), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Wriddihiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Abhinav Mukund, Hardik Pandya.

India ‘A’ team for the three-day practice game against Australia: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Akhil Herwadkar, Priyank Kirit Panchal, Shreyas Iyer, Ankit Bawne, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shahbaz Nadeem, Krishnappa Gowtham, Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Ashok Dinda, Mohammed Siraj, Rahul Singh, Baba Indrajith.