Indian captain Virat Kohli, ODI vice-captain Rohit Sharma and most of the senior players who played in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 reportedly do not want to rest for the upcoming West Indies tour which begins early next month. The only players who will be left out from the team are Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who made himself unavailable for the tour, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah. However, Bumrah will join the team for the two-Test series after the limited-overs cricket gets over in the Carribean tour.
According to the Times of India, Kohli, who was expected to take rest for the ODI and the T20 series, has expressed no intention to take rest and has made himself available for the full tour. Indian pace ace Bumrah also has no intentions to miss out on the Test series as well.
On the other hand, sources told TOI, there are no words yet on the availability of Shikhar Dhawan and Vijay Shankar.
"There's no word yet on Shikhar Dhawan and Vijay Shankar (who had to leave the World Cup midway due to injuries). The chief selector may have an idea because he's been following this up. Let's see, we'll have a better idea tomorrow on how they're recovering," sources told TOI.
The Indian team management and the senior players are also currently pretty much annoyed with the rumours that are spreading around about the rift within the squad. Recently, there have been rumours about the presence of two groups inside the team, one group is supporting Virat Kohli while the other is supporting Rohit Sharma.
"Absolute nonsense is being pedalled, like 'there's a rift in the team, there's trouble brewing', whatnot. It's really uncalled for. Which cricketer wishes away another cricketer? Only one who's never played the game. The World Cup ended and someone wanted a new headline. It's disappointing how some people twist and turn things to suit their interests," the sources added.
The Men in Blue crashed out of the ICC Cricket World Cup semi-finals after facing defeat at the hands of New Zealand by 18 runs. The Indian middle-order could not stand up to the pace bowling attack of the Kiwis and they fell cheaply. MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja showed some resilience and took the fight to the Black Caps but their efforts went in vain as India fell short of the target.
