Sanju Samson, Ruturaj Gaikwad return as BCCI names squad for West Indies ODIs

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Friday, June 23, named a strong Indian squad for the upcoming ODI series against the West Indies.

Rohit Sharma will lead the squad with Hardik Pandya as his deputy. Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad have returned to the 50-over squad for the series in the Caribbean. Gaikwad was stupendous for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 and also played a handy knock in the final against Gujarat Titans (GT) at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Ruturaj made his debut last year before losing his place in the team, but the campaign for CSK helped him stake his claim back into the national setup. Umran Malik and Mukesh Kumar have also been included in the team.

Malik also found his place back in the team. He looked out of sorts for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL 2023 and was left out of the side for a number of matches. The speedster is one of the fastest bowlers in the country and will be looking to prove a point.

Mukesh Kumar is yet to play for India, but has rubbed shoulders with the likes of Mustafizur Rahman, Ishant Sharma and Anrich Nortje while playing for Delhi Capitals (DC) in the IPL.

The Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados will host the first two ODIs of the series on Thursday, July 27 and Saturday, July 29. The third and final ODI of the series will take place on Tuesday, August 1 at the Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba in Trinidad.

India’s ODI squad for West Indies series
Rohit Sharma (Capt), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), Shardul Thakur, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar.