Veterans Yuvraj Singh and Ashish Nehra were handed fresh lifelines with a recall in India's Twenty20 squad while Punjab left-arm seamer Brainder Sran and Baroda all-rounder Hardik Pandya were the new faces in the squads for upcoming tour to Australia early next year.
lanky paceman Ishant Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami were brought back into the ODI team which had no place for Suresh Raina, who was overlooked to test new players.
Shami, who has now recovered from his injury, has been named in both the ODI and T20 squads, announced by BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur after a meeting of the selection committee here.
Himachal Pradesh's seamer all-rounder Rishi Dhawan, who has been in India's A squads in the recent past, also breaks into the national team for the first time. Manish Pandey was also included in the One-day squad.
There were a number of players like Stuart Binny, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ambati Rayudu, Mohit Sharma, Amit Mishra and Harbhajan Singh, who were omitted from the ODI squad. Off-spinner Harbhajan however kept his place in the T20 squad.
The 23-year-old Sran and 22-year-old Pandya were rewarded with a berth in the ODI and T20 squads respectively for their consistent performance in domestic circuit.
The squad, to be captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, has expectedly been packed with seamers, keeping in mind the conditions in Australia where India will play five ODIs and three Twenty20 Internationals from January 12 to 31.
The selectors preferred to give another opportunity to Yuvraj and Nehra, both of who had represented with distinction in the past.
"Keeping in mind World T20 lot of players this was chance to pick for World T20 and use it as a platform. Those not selected were all discussed. We have extended the pool," Chairman of the selection committee Sandip Patil told reporters after the meeting.
Speaking about Yuvraj and Nehra's comeback, Patil said,"Yuvi is special and captain is happy to have him back. We can't guarantee him place but chance to perform will be given. Nehra is a consistent performer in T20 format. He will be useful in the team. We will need experienced players in the T20 WC. Australia tour perfect chance to give them a shot."
"Australia tour will give selectors a chance to take a look at other players. Suresh Raina not in the ODIs is a chance to see other players. He is still there in T20 team. In the last three years we have given chance to many youngsters but for World T20 we need experience," Patil said, explaining the decision to include veterans.
Patil said the decision to select the final XI will remain with the captain and team management. The team's batting has remained more or less the same with Dhawan, Rohit, Kohli, Rahane comprising the top-order in both the squads.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel are the two specialist spinners while all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Gurkeerat Singh will provide more variety in the attack in ODI squad.
The pace department will be spearheaded by Ishant and will have Shami, Umesh Yadav, Rishi Dhawan and Sran for support.
Want to play in wt20: pandey
His debut match against Zimbabwe had given Manish Pandey confidence that he belongs to this level and the talented Karnataka right-hander wants to make every opportunity count in the upcoming ODI series against Australia in order to make it to the World T20 team.
"Obviously, it is a dream of any cricketer to play in the World Cup. I want to use every opportunity that I get and make a case for myself for selection in the Indian team for the World T20. I have had a decent record in the IPl," Pandey said during an interaction after he replaced Suresh Raina in the Indian team for the five-match ODI series Down Under.
For Pandey, who loves to play the hook and pull shots, the Australian pitches are welcome. Also the fact that he has played a number of times for India A in Australia will be an advantage.
"I think my previous tours to Australia will be very helpful as I have an idea about the wickets and the conditions. Also when India A went to Australia for a limited overs competition, we won the tournament. I also had a good tournament. I love playing on the bouncy pitches," 26-year-old Bangalorean said.
The national call-up also somewhat had a soothing effect as the formidable Karnataka side has failed to make it to the knock-out rounds of both Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare trophy.
"I was a bit hurt as we were two-time champions in both Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy. So there was a bit of disappointment but this news of making it to the Indian team makes me feel a bit happy," the 'veteran' of 75 first-class matches said.
Pandey scored 71 on his ODI debut against Zimbabwe and he terms it as a confidence booster for him.
"Zimbabwe tour went well for me, I had a good performance on my debut. So the expectation that I would be in the mix was always there. If you do well in an international match, it always adds to confidence. I never looked at it as a stop gap opportunities. It never crossed my mind that whether I will get an opportunity when rested players come back," he added.