India’s T20I squad against England: Rishabh Pant returns; Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan called up

After their stellar performances for Mumbai Indians in the 13th edition of Indian Premier League and good form in domestic seasons past, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan received their first international call-ups, reported PTI.

On Saturday, India’s Twenty20 International squad was announced to take on England in the five-match series scheduled to be played in Ahmedabad.

Rahul Tewatia, who was the most prolific Indian allrounder in IPL 2020, was also named in the 19-member strong contingent to be led by Virat Kohli. The Rajasthan Royals player has also been called up for the first time.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar also makes a much-awaited comeback with Jasprit Bumrah rested.

Rishabh Pant makes a return to the white-ball set-up on the back of his scintillating performances in India’s Test team with Ishan Kishan named as the second wicketkeeper. Sanju Samson has been left out. Both Kishan and Pant have been named as wicketkeepers, so it remains to be seen if K L Rahul will continue to keep the wickets.

Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja were not named in the squad announced on Saturday.

Pant, all-rounder Axar Patel and pacer Bhuvneswar Kumar also returned to a fresh-looking squad.

The selectors named a 19-man squad for the series starting March 12 in Ahmedabad with an aim to try out new faces such as Kishan, Yadav and Tewatia in a World Cup year. All three had stellar IPL seasons, while Yadav has formed the backbone of Mumbai set-up for a while now.

Questions were raised when he did not make the team for the series in Australia but his long wait has finally ended. Kishan too had a good IPL and has been in red hot form in white ball cricket. He got the call-up on a day when he smashed 173 off 93 balls for Jharkhand in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Tewatia, who plays for Haryana, had smashed West Indies Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over in the IPL last year to pull off a stunning win for his team in Sharjah and went on to impress with his all-round skills through the campaign.

While reasons have not been provided, it would seem left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, new RR captain Sanju Samson and Manish Pandey have been dropped from the side while star pacer Jasprit Bumrah has presumably been rested.

Mohammad Shami and Ravindra Jadeja were not included as they they are still recovering from injuries they suffered on the Australia tour.

Return for Pant

Pant comes back into the team following a stellar run in Tests in Australia and his good form has continued in the home series against England. Bhuvneshwar returns to the side having recovered from a hamstring injury he suffered in the IPL. He recently played for UP in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Axar Patel, who last played a T20I in February 2018, is also back having performed consistently in the IPL. His selection comes after he took a five-wicket haul in his maiden Test and is a like-for-like replacement for Jadeja. Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who missed the Australia series due to an injury after receiving a call-up, has also been named in the team. Left-arm pacer T Natarajan has expectedly retained his place following an impressive debut series in Australia.

India’s T20I squad to face England: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur  

With PTI inputs