Sourav Ganguly wanted Ajinkya Rahane in place of Rayudu in India’s ODI squad for England tour

Ajinkya Rahane was dropped in the recently announced Indian squad to be touring England. Ambati Rayudu, who is having a sensational IPL, has been picked in his place.

The national selection committee announced the 16 member ODI squad for England on Tuesday which saw a couple of surprising moves. Pacer Umesh Yadav made a comeback into the Indian ODI side on the back of a stellar IPL season. Young bowler Siddarth Kaul also reaped the rewards of his IPL performance and was given a nod in the ODI squad.

Also read: BCCI announce ODI squad for England series

On the other hand, Test vice Captain Ajinkya Rahane has been dropped from the ODI side following a lukewarm ODI series against South Africa. However, the move of dropping Rahane did not go down well with former Indian Captain Sourav Ganguly who questioned the selectors on their decision.

“Ajinkya Rahane has missed out on limited-overs squad. A harsh decision. I would still pick Ajinkya Rahane ahead of Ambati Rayudu. Ajinkya Rahane is a far superior player in England where the ball is going to move. He has got a good record in England,” Dada told India Today.

Rahane bore the brunt of a disastrous IPL season. The Mumbaikar has failed to get off the blocks in the league this year. Opening the batting for the Rajasthan Royals, he has failed to fire as yet. This is one of the reasons why RR are struggling to make the playoffs and things are not looking positive for them.

While Rahane was sidelined in the squad, CSK batsman Ambati Rayudu was reincluded in India’s future plans. Rayudu has scored 423 runs in 10 innings and is in contention for the Orange Cap.

Another batsman who has been persisted with is the newly crowned Captain of the Delhi Daredevils Shreyas Iyer.

While Dada was in agreement with Iyer’s inclusion in the ODI squad, he was disappointed that the youngster was not considered for the one-off Test at home against Afghanistan to be played in Bangalore next month.

Following Virat Kohli’s unavailability for the Test, Karun Nair has been picked in his place.

Also read: Virat Kohli unavailable for the first T20I against Ireland, confirms Surrey

“Shreyas Iyer is in the England ODI side which is a good decision. Karun Nair (in the Test squad vs Afghanistan) is a bit of a surprise. I am surprised that Shreyas Iyer has not been picked for the one-off Test considering he’s been brilliant for Delhi in the IPL,” Ganguly noted.

Team India for the three-match ODI series against England

Virat Kohli (Capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni(wk), Dinesh Karthik, Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah, Hardik, Kaul, Umesh Yadav

Team India for one-off Test against Afghanistan

Ajinkya Rahane (Capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Vijay, KL Rahul, Pujara, Karun Nair, Saha (wk), Ashwin, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Umesh, Shami, Hardik, Ishant, Shardul Thakur