Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli returned to the Twenty20 International set-up as the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the squad for the three-match series against Afghanistan on Sunday.
Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been called up for the series, which will also be their first since India’s 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final elimination. Suryakumar Yadav, who led India against Australia, has been rested.
Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah also have been rested for the series, pacers Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, and Arshdeep Singh feature in the squad. Sanju Samson and Jitesh Sharma are the two wicket-keeping options for the team.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal continues to be snubbed by the selectors and Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar will be the spin options.
Seam-bowling all-rounder Shivam Dube will try to fill the gap for Hardik Pandya, who continues to recover from the injury he sustained in the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup.
It will be India’s last T20I series ahead of the 2024 World Cup in June in USA and West Indies. The series set to begin on Thursday, January 11 will be played in three venues – namely, Mohali, Indore and Bengaluru. The final T20I will be played on January 17.
Squad:
Rohit Sharma (C), S Gill, Y Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, W Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar