India have announced a 15-member squad for the five-match T20I series against England. Mohammed Shami finally makes a comeback to the squad after spending nearly 15 months away from international cricket.
The 34-year-old Bengal pacer last donned the India jersey in the 2023 World Cup final. He suffered an ankle injury post that which required surgery. Shami has been playing domestic cricket for the last couple of months to prove his match fitness. He featured in one Ranji game, nine T20s (Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy) and three 50-over fixtures (Vijay Hazare Trophy) in the ongoing domestic season in India.
This will also be Shami’s first T20I after the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. The England series will be a crucial one for Shami and his fitness, given that the 2025 Champions Trophy is around the corner. India’s squad for the eight-team event is yet to be announced.
Apart from that, the rest of the squad is on expected lines. Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar return to the T20I setup. The trio missed the series in South Africa as they were a part of the Test squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma are set to open with Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Rinku Singh forming the core of the middle-order.
Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi are the frontline spinners while Arshdeep Singh will lead the pace attack. Dhruv Jurel’s name may come as a surprise as the second wicket-keeping option.
Ramandeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal, Vijaykumar Vyshak and Jitesh Sharma are the ones who were a part of the squad for the South Africa series and have missed out. The latter three didn’t play a single game on the tour.
Axar Patel named as India vice-captain for England series
One of the big talking points from the squad announcement was Axar Patel’s elevation to vice-captain. This comes despite Hardik Pandya being a part of the squad. Pandya has been an integral member of the white-ball squads and was even captain for a large part between the 2022 and 2024 T20 World Cups.
In fact, it was being reported that the Baroda all-rounder would captain India in the 2024 T20 World Cup before Rohit Sharma came back to lead the team. Suryakumar Yadav was named the captain in July last year. The selectors decided against naming a vice-captain for the South Africa T20Is but have opted for Axar this time which comes as a major surprise.
The five-match T20I series against England kicks off on the 22nd of January at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
SQUAD: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Axar Patel (vice-captain), Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami.
