Rahane to lead India against Afghanistan in Kohli's absence
MUMBAI, May 8 (Reuters) - Ajinkya Rahane will lead India against Afghanistan, who play their maiden test in Bengaluru in June, in the absence of regular captain Virat Kohli, the country's cricket board (BCCI) said on Tuesday.
Kohli will represent Surrey in June after signing a one-month contract with the English county side to prepare for the test series against England later this year.
He will return to lead India in the limited-overs series in Ireland in June before they head to England for three T20 internationals, three ODIs and a five-test series starting in August.
Afghanistan will play their inaugural test match from June 14 in Bengaluru.
The South Asian country and Ireland joined the ranks of full member nations of the International Cricket Council last year, taking the total number of test-playing countries to 12.
India test squad against Afghanistan: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Shardul Thakur
India T20 squad against Ireland and England: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav
India ODI squad against England: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav (Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Ed Osmond)
