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Mayank Agarwal has been added into India’s ODI squad after four Indian players including standby player tested positive for Covid-19. Apart from Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shreyas Iyer, standby player Navdeep Saini too tested positive for Covid-19.
While Dhawan and Saini’s results returned positive on Monday (January 31), Gaikwad and Iyer tested positive on Tuesday (February 1) and Wednesday (February 2) respectively. India’s fielding coach T. Dilip, security liaison officer B. Lokesh and massage therapist Rajeev Kumar also contracted the virus and are currently in isolation.
Agarwal has not played a single ODI in over 14 months. The 30-year-old played his last ODI against Australia in November 2020 and scored 28 runs while opening the innings in the run chase. Till now, he has played five ODIs and scored 86 runs at an unimpressive average of 17.20.
India are scheduled to play West Indies in the first ODI on February 6. It is unlikely that the infected Indian batters will recover in time for the series opener against Kieron Pollard’s side. In openers Dhawan and Gaikwad’s absence, skipper Rohit Sharma may open alongside KL Rahul or Agarwal. However, India may play Rahul in middle order as India struggled in middle overs against South Africa which led to a 0-3 defeat.
On the other hand, in the middle order, Iyer’s absence may lead to a promotion for an unorthodox Suryakumar Yadav. Also, Deepak Hooda may get to make his ODI debut at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
India ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan
