New Delhi, Jan 17: India captain Rohit Sharma and chief selector Ajit Agarkar will be announcing India’s squads for the upcoming three-match One-day International (ODI) series against England and the upcoming Champions Trophy in Mumbai on Saturday.

As per an official statement from the BCCI, the Agarkar-led Men’s Selection Committee will be selecting the squads in Mumbai on Saturday morning. Once the meeting is over and squads are finalised, Rohit and Agarkar will address reporters at 12:30 pm in Wankhede Stadium. The one thing that everyone will be keen to know in the crucial press conference will be the fitness status of Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav. Bumrah didn’t bowl in the second innings of the Sydney Test due to back spasms, raising concerns over his match fitness to play in the upcoming 50-over assignments.

Bumrah has had a history of back injuries, the latest of which kept him out of action for 11 months, before becoming fit in time to play the 2023 ODI World Cup. On the other hand, Kuldeep had been out of action since October last year due to a hernia surgery and has resumed bowling at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.

In terms of the squad make-up, Rohit is all but confirmed to be the captain, with Shubman Gill as his opening partner. It would be interesting to see if Yashasvi Jaiswal also gets a look-in, considering he has been a mainstay in Tests and T20Is with his stunning knocks and solidity.

With Virat Kohli certain to bat at three, the selectors might have a long discussion on the middle and lower-order make-up. KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer were the mainstays during the 2023 ODI World Cup in the middle-order, and with three matches against England being the only games before the Champions Trophy, a reunion of the two looks set. For the second keeper slot, Rishabh Pant seems to be the likely pick, though there’s Sanju Samson too. But Samson hasn’t played the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy as he missed a preliminary camp for Kerala and didn’t find a place.

A discussion is likely to be on Karun Nair, who is leading the Vijay Hazare Trophy run-charts with 752 runs and will play Saturday’s final for Vidarbha against his former side Karnataka. The selection committee is also likely to see if Hardik Pandya is included and brings the much-needed balance to the side, based on his performances in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

In terms of the spin department, apart from Kuldeep’s fitness, who between Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, and Axar Patel makes the cut is to be seen, with Varun Chakaravarthy having an outside chance too.

For the fast-bowling department, someone like Arshdeep Singh or Prasidh Krishna can be included alongside Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami, especially if Bumrah is unavailable. Other fast-bowling options available are Mukesh Kumar, and all-rounders Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy.

The ODIs against England are scheduled for February 6, 9, and 12 in Nagpur, Cuttack, and Ahmedabad respectively. India will then play their Champions Trophy league matches in Dubai, and are slated to start their campaign against Bangladesh on February 20. They will then take on arch-rivals Pakistan on February 23, and face New Zealand in their final league match on March 2. India are two-time winners of the Champions Trophy and became runners-up when the tournament was last played in 2017.

Rohit and Agarkar may also take questions on the recently-released 10-point policy guidelines issued by the BCCI in the wake of the Test series loss in Australia and could be asked around the details of the review meeting on January 11, as well as on reports of unrest in the team environment.

--IANS

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