The Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) has decided to include the Tamil Nadu duo of Shahrukh Khan and R Sai Kishore in the Indian contingency for the upcoming three T20Is against West Indies in Kolkata between February 16-20. The Tamil Nadu teammates Shahrukh and Sai Kishore played a huge part in Tamil Nadu’s victorious campaign. Their national team call-up has been made by BCCI to take measures in a situation when COVID-19 cases have surged across the country.
BCCI official confirmed the inclusion of Shahrukh Khan and R Sai Kishore
Shahrukh and Sai Kishore have been called as stand-bys for the Windies series. They will also enter the bubble with main team players,” a senior BCCI official confirmed the development to PTI.
It has been announced that the limited-overs series starts in Ahmedabad on February 6 with a three-match ODI rubber followed by three T20 Internationals in Kolkata. For Sai Kishore, this is the second opportunity in an Indian team set-up after he was part of the net bowlers’ group during a tour of Sri Lanka under Rahul Dravid last year.
Shahrukh has been in contention to make it to the main squad and he has drawn attention this season for scoring runs at critical stages, including a last ball six against Karnataka, to clinch the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final.
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It was against the same opponents in the Vijay Hazare Trophy quarter-final that he scored a blistering 79 off 39 balls and his contribution in the final against HP was 42 off 21 balls. He might have to wait to get his place secured in the playing XI.
But the head coach Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma provide enough chances to the players from other divisions. Sai Kishore will be joining more as a net bowler with Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel in the set-up.