Mayak Agarwal, Vijay Shankar to replace KL Rahul and Pandya

Team Udayavani, Jan 13, 2019, 5:05 AM IST

New Delhi: Mayank Agarwal and Vijay Shankar will replace suspended Lokesh Rahul and Hardik Pandya for the remainder of the ODI series against Australia.

“Mayank Agarwal for KL Rahul and Vijay Shankar for Pandya are like-for-like replacements suggested by the selectors. They will be joining the team at the earliest,” a senior BCCI official told PTI.

Hardik Pandya and K L Rahul have been suspended pending an inquiry into their sexist comments on a TV show, ruling them out of the three-match ODI series against Australia.

They will return home on the first available flight from Australia as the BCCI suspended them Friday for their outrage-evoking comments on women, hours after the duo’s on-field leader Virat Kohli expressed his disapproval.

This is the first time Agarwal has been included in India’s limited-overs’ squad. He made an impressive Test debut in the series against Australia, which India won 2-1, after being called in as a replacement for the injured Prithvi Shaw.

In the three innings he played, the 27-year-old Agarwal compiled 195 runs with two half-centuries at an average of 65.

The 27-year-old Vijay Shankar is a middle-order batsman from Tamil Nadu who can also bowl medium pace. He has played in five T20Is.