India’s squad for the upcoming T20I series against West Indies has been announced on Thursday by the Indian Cricket Board. Rohit Sharma will be leading the team in a five-match T20I series with Virat Kohli, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Jasprit Bumrah rested for the series. KL Rahul, who was out with an injury, has found his way back into the squad but his inclusion depends on full fitness before the first match.
Ravindra Jadeja, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, and Ishan Kishan have been retained from the India- South Africa T20I series this year. Kuldeep Yadav has also been named into the squad but his inclusion would follow the same trajectory as KL Rahul and is subject to fitness as well.
The ODI squad for the West Indies tour was already announced with Shikhar Dhawan as captain. The likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant were rested to prepare for the Asia Cup in August.
The T20I squad includes youngsters like Deepak Hooda, Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan. Their performance would be closely watched as some of them could be given a chance in India’s T20I world cup squad as well.
Notably, the young speedster Umran Malik has been given a miss from the T20I series. The second fastest bowler of the Indian T20I League did not get a chance in the India- South Africa series but was included in the Indian team against Ireland.
The Indian Cricket Board did not reveal any reason for the exclusion of Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah. Kohli, who has been going through a bad patch of form, was also excluded from the Indian playing XI for the first ODI against England. Reportedly the ex-Indian captain is carrying a groin strain and is doubtful for the second ODI against England as well.
India T20I Squad for West Indies tour: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul*, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav*, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
