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India to Name Squads for Bangladesh, England Tours; Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir in Fray
Mumbai: Prolific opener Robin Uthappa is all set to make a comeback into the Indian team for the limited overs series in Bangladesh as the selectors might think about giving regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his deputy Virat Kohli much-needed rest ahead of the tour to England.
The teams for the short three-match ODI series in Bangladesh and five-Test rubber in England will be named on Wednesday.
Uthappa, the leading run-scorer in Indian Premier League is all but certain to get a look-in for the ODI series in Bangladesh while senior opener Gautam Gambhir has a good chance of making it to the England-bound Test team as the third opener. Gambhir had scored 578 runs in the last edition of Ranji Trophy.
While Rohit Sharma is being tipped to lead the Indian team to Bangladesh, there might be some interesting selections lined up for both the tours.
Promising Kerala wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson along with Bengal's Wriddhiman Saha will be vying for the second wicketkeeper's slot after both Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik flopped in the IPL.
The likes of Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Mahendra Singh Dhoni are confirmed for the batting slots in the England-bound Test team.
It will be interesting to see if Gambhir has competition for the reserve opener's slot for the England tour.
Among the reserve batsmen for the England tour, Uthappa along with Karnataka's KL Rahul and Karun Nair might come up for discussion following their good showing in the first-class season. Maharashtra's Kedar Jadhav has also done well and might also be in the fray.
While Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra are confirmed as far as Test matches are concerned, the selectors might like to take notice of Harbhajan Singh's performance in the ongoing IPL.
Leggies Karn Sharma and Yuzvendra Chahal, who have shone in IPL, might be in selector's radar as far as the Bangladesh tour is concerned.
