Yuvraj Singh included - India tour of Australia 2016!

Board of Cricket for India (BCCI) made a strong statement by picking India’s dual World Cup winner Yuvraj Singh for India’s tour of Australia. They also dropped Suresh Raina from the team in the 5o-over format and chairman of selectors, Sandip Patil emphasised on the fact that no player will be neglected from the team’s plans going into the T20 World Cup, which will be played later in the year. Ashish Nehra has also made his way back in the side. India will be playing 5 One-Day Internationals and 3 T20s Down Under.

The committee, preceded by Sandip Patil and Anurag Thakur also hinted at the much talked about India vs Pakistan tour not taking place anytime in the near future. There were words of praise for Ashish Nehra, another World Cup winner who got the nod on in the T20s. The left-armer’s consistency in the shortest format was the reason given for his selection. Nehra had a sparkling Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015, where he was one of the leading wicket-takers for the now defunct Chennai Super Kings.

Gurkeerat Singh Mann, the Punjab strokemaker has also been retained in the ODI team. He was in the squad for India’s squad that played South Africa too but didn’t play a single game. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been restricted to T20s alone, where veteran Harbhajan Singh also finds a place. Gujarat all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been rewarded with a place but it uncertain whether he will find a place. Another all-rounder Rishi Dhawan, who is a part of the Indian set-up for the first time shows the selectors wanting to shore the No 6 spot, which has been a problem for India in the recent past. The tour will start from January 12.

ODI Squad:

Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey , Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Rishi Dhawan, Brainder Sran

T20I squad:

Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Harbhajan Singh, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra

Yuvraj Singh's World Cup 2015 dream still alive?

Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh may become the classic example of 'someone's loss is someone's gain' if India's fitness worries around their four recuperating players don't settle down by February 7 - the day Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar go through a fitness test in Australia.

The #LoutegaYuvraj trend may return on social networks, especially if Jadeja is deemed unfit with no chance of recovering in time for India's first match against Pakistan on February 15.

Yuvraj, the Man of the Series in India's 2011 winning campaign, fits the bill to address India's ongoing middle-order worries. He brings to the team the same ilk, left-arm spin, as Jadeja while being way superior to the Saurashtra allrounder - in fact not a logical comparison - when it comes to batting.

However, in case Rohit, who opens the batting for India in ODIs, is forced to return within touching distance from making his World Cup debut, the BCCI selectors may seriously ponder issuing a ticket to Murali Vijay, who was in terrific form during the Test series in Australia.

Interestingly, it was widely reported that Dhoni had floated Vijay's name at time of selecting India's 15-man squad, but the skipper's recommendation for his former Chennai Super Kings team-mate was conveniently turned down by the selectors.

On the contrary, it might well happen that both Rohit and Jadeja are declared fit, after which the slim, left-over hopes for Yuvraj and Vijay will die down.

However, there is high likelihood of Ishant Sharma missing the bus due to his ankle injury, which will open the door for either Mohit Sharma or Dhawal Kulkarni, who have been asked to stay back until the fitness test on February 7.

At the time of selecting India's World Cup squad, Sandeep Patil & Co may have harped upon their intent to not look back and move ahead, but considering India's winless streak on Australia tour, including failure to get going even in the ODI tri-series, it won't be a surprise if Yuvraj, who recently hit three centuries in the ongoing Ranji Trophy, returns to the scheme of things in India's Cup defence.

And it's not even a guess who Indian fans want to see boarding that flight to Australia in the eleventh hour.