Fit-again Hardik, Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar back for South Africa ODI series
Ahmedabad: All-rounder Hardik Pandya returned to the Indian squad for the three-match ODI series against South Africa after a six-month injury lay-off along with fit-again senior opener Shikhar Dhawan and seasoned seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
This is the first selection meeting under new chairman Sunil Joshi.
However, vice-captain Rohit Sharma is yet to fully recuperate from his calf muscle injury and is expected to return to action during the Indian Premier League later this month.
Pacer Shardul Thakur and all-rounder Shivam Dube were dropped from the squad that played the ODIs in New Zealand while veteran Kedar Jadhav made way for young Shubman Gill, who played his last ODI more than a year back.
Pandya's comeback was eagerly awaited by the team management after he underwent a back surgery. He proved his fitness with some blazing innings in the DY Patil Corporate T20 tournament under the watchful eyes of former chairman of selectors MSK Prasad.
Dhawan, who suffered a shoulder dislocation during Australia ODIs is also fit along with Bhuvneshwar, who underwent a sports hernia surgery in London.
Dhawan's comeback meant exit for Mayank Agarwal, who wasted three chances in New Zealand while Prithvi Shaw's positive batting has won him the vote of team management which enabled him to retain his place in the side.
The three ODIs will be played in Dharamsala (March 12), Lucknow (March 15) and Kolkata (March 18).
India's ODI squad: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Virat Kohli (C), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill.
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New govt in Maharashtra to be formed on Dec 5, Fadnavis frontrunner for CM post: BJP leader
Mumbai (PTI): Mahayuti alliance's new government in Maharashtra will be formed on December 5 with Devendra Fadnavis emerging as the frontrunner to become the next chief minister again, a senior BJP leader said on Saturday.
In the November 20 Maharashtra assembly polls, the Mahayuti alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) retained power, pocketing a whopping 230 of the 288 assembly seats. The BJP emerged as the single largest party, winning 132 seats, followed by Shiv Sena with 57 and NCP with 41 seats.
However, even after the announcement of poll results a week ago (on November 23), the formation of the government has been delayed as the tripartite alliance is yet to decide on who will be the next chief minister. Shinde, Fadnavis and Pawar met BJP president J P Nadda and Union minister Amit Shah late Thursday to discuss a power-sharing pact for the next government.
A key Mahayuti meeting scheduled on Friday was put off and likely to take place on Sunday now as caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde headed to his native village in Satara district, delaying government formation further.
The BJP leader, who did not wish to be quoted, said the swearing-in of the new government will take place on December 5.
Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who was the chief minister twice and deputy chief minister in the last government, is the frontrunner for the top post, the leader said.
Another senior BJP leader said the chief minister's swearing-in ceremony will take place at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai.
But before that, a meeting will be held on December 2 to pick the BJP legislature party leader, he said.
Caretaker CM Shinde has made it clear that he will fully support BJP leadership's decision to name the next CM, and that he won't be a hurdle in the process, while Ajit Pawar-led NCP has backed Fadnavis for the chief minister's post.
In the assembly elections, Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a setback. The grand old party registered one of its worst performances in the state assembly polls after it won only 16 seats. Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP) could bag only 10 seats, whereas Uddhav Thackeray's (UBT) won 20.
