No Virat, No Bumrah, India announces squad for West Indies T20Is, Ashwin makes his return
India's tour of England has reached its business end with two games left on the tour. The tour will conclude on Sunday, July 17 with the third and final ODI. However, after that, the Men in Blue will fly to the West Indies for the white-ball series. Both teams will play three ODIs and five T20Is on that tour.
However, the ODI squad was already announced on July 6 for the three matches, and now on Thursday, the selection committee led by Chetan Sharma has also announced the squad for the five-match T201 series on the tour.
Although the selectors have announced an 18-member squad, there are a few big names that are missing from the team and a few have made their comeback to the squad. Speaking of the absentees from the team, the former Indian skipper, Virat Kohli, ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah, and veteran leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal have been given the rest.
On the other hand, veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has made a long-awaited return to the team. He might play the games in place of Chahal, while KL Rahul, who suffered an injury in the lower abdomen ahead of the South Africa home series, is back in the team, along with Kuldeep Yadav.
Rohit Sharma (C), I Kishan, KL Rahul*, Suryakumar Yadav, D Hooda, S Iyer, D Karthik, R Pant, H Pandya, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, R Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav*, B Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 14, 2022
*Inclusion of KL Rahul & Kuldeep Yadav is subject to fitness.
But the availability of these two players will be subject to their fitness. Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan have been retained in the T20I side, while Umran Malik, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Sanju Samson were unfortunate to miss the selection.
The T20I series will start on Friday, July 29 at Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba, Trinidad. The fifth and final match will kick off on Sunday August 7. Earlier, ODI squad was announced and all the seniors were given rest from ODIs. Shikhar Dhawan will lead the team and Ravindra Jadeja will be the vice-captain.
Indian team for T20Is: Rohit Sharma (C), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul*, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav*, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.