BCCI grants paternity leave to Virat Kohli, Indian skipper to return from Australia tour after first Test

Virat Kohli has been granted paternity leave and the Indian skipper will return after playing the first Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval.

A release from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday revealed that the selection committee met on Oct. 26 and accepted Kohli's request to allow him to return after the day-night Test. The Indian team will play the remaining three Tests in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane without their best batsman.

The release also stated the changes that have been made to all the three squads across formats owing to the injury situation of several players, who have been participating in the ongoing Indian Premier League in the UAE.

"The BCCI Medical Team has been monitoring Rohit Sharma's fitness and has briefed All-India Senior Selection Committee on the same. In consultation with Mr. Sharma, it has been decided to rest him for the ODIs and T20Is in Australia to regain full fitness and he has been included in India's Test squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy," BCCI's release further read.

Sanju Samson, who had a decent run with Rajasthan Royals at the IPL 2020, was added to India's ODI squad as a back-up wicketkeeper-batsman. Meanwhile, Varun Chakravarthy, who recently received his maiden India call, suffered a major setback as the spinner was ruled out of the T20I series owing to a shoulder injury. The selectors named T Natarajan as a replacement.

"The senior Indian wicket-keeper [Wriddhiman Saha] sustained injuries to both his hamstrings during his side's IPL game on 3rd November. A call on his availability will be taken later," the release added.

The young fast bowler Kamlesh Nagarkoti will not be able to travel to Australia as he is still working with the medical team on his bowling workload management.

The revised squads are as below:

Team India T20I squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (vice-captain and wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, T Natarajan.

Team India ODI squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (vice-captain & wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper).

Team India Test squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Mohd. Siraj.