India Tour of West Indies: Hardik Pandya to lead in T20Is; Tilak Varma receives call-up

Hardik Pandya will lead India’s Twenty20 side for the upcoming tour of West Indies, the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced on Wednesday. Banking on their hot form in the Indian Premier League, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma received their first T20I call-ups for the upcoming five-match series against the West Indies. Suryakumar Yadav will be the deputy to Pandya in the series.

The senior men’s selection committee on Wednesday decided against picking Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for the series set to be played in the Caribbean Islands and in Florida, USA.

While Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar comprise the pace battery, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav will make the spin attack. Sanju Samson will occupy the wicket-keeper spot.

The new Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee moved away from picking Rahul Tripathi, Prithvi Shaw, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar and Shivam Mavi, who were part of the T20I squad in the series against New Zealand earlier this year.

The previous selection committee had already announced the squad for Tests and ODIs around two weeks back. The series will comprise two Tests, followed by three ODIs and five T20Is.

India Tour of West Indies: Pujara, Umesh dropped as Jaiswal, Gaikwad receive call-ups for Tests

India’s T20I squad: Ishan Kishan (wk), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Surya Kumar Yadav (VC), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya (C), Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.