Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli back in T20I side as India announce squad against Afghanan | Cricket News
The BCCI on Sunday announced the Indian squad for the 3-match T20I series against Afghanan with both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli coming back into the side.Sharma and Kohli returns to the T20I side after not taking part in any international T20 matches since the T20 World Cup. Rohit will lead the side while Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav are both unavailable due to injury.
The three T20s against Afghanan are the only international matches India will play before the 2024 World Cup in June.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who played the series and was named vice-captain against South Africa, is not part of the squad.
Noticeably, Sanju Samson, who was not selected for the three-match T20I series against South Africa, has been added to the squad. Shivam Dube is another player who missed the tour to the Rainbow Nation; however, he was part of the group that played against Australia in the World Cup.
🚨 NEWS 🚨#TeamIndia’s squad for @IDFCFIRSTBank T20I series against Afghanan announced 🔽
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,…
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 7, 2024
Fast bowlers Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah are both rested for upcoming games against Afghanan amd will probably make their return to the Test squad which will face England.
Siraj and Bumrah played key roles in India’s thumping win over South Africa at Cape Town on Thursday. India levelled the two-match series.
The three T20Os against Afghanan will take place on January 11, 14 and 17 at Mohali, Indore and Bengaluru respectively.
The 5 Tests against England will start on Jan 25 and end on March 11 with the first match being played in Hyderabad. The second will take place from February 2-6 at Visakhapatnam while the 3rd will take place at Rajkot from February 15-19.
The last two Tests will be at Ranchi and Dharamsala, respectively, with the 4th taking place on February 23-27 while the 5th is on March 7-11.
India T20I 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