Mumbai, July 14: KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav and R Ashwin made a return to the India squad while as expected Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal were rested for the five-match T20I series against West Indies, starting on July 29 at Trinidad.
However, while announcing the squad on Thursday (July 14), the All-India Senior Selection Committee made it clear that both Rahul and Kuldeep’s availability will be subjected to their fitness.
Both Kuldeep and Rahul are currently recuperating from their injuries at NCA. Rohit Sharma will lead the side while there are two wicketkeepers in Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik.
However, Sanju Samson, who was impressive against Ireland in the lone T20I he played with fifty, failed to find a place in the squad but other than that the squad that played the T20Is against England was retained.
Sanju, who had captained Rajasthan Royals to the IPL 2022 final, will he hoping to find a berth in the India T20I squad for the Asia Cup to be held in August last week or September in Sri Lanka or in Bangladesh.
However, Shreyas Iyer was retained despite going through a lukewarm Test and white ball series against England, perhaps an indication of the faith selectors have in the Mumbai right-hander.
The only addition is R Ashwin, who was not part of India’s white ball format squad against England.
While Kuldeep has been included in the squad, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has given a rest for the tour after playing in the series against both Ireland and England. Pacer Umran Malik too did not find a place in the squad.
India’s squad for 5 T20Is against the West Indies: 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.
India vs West Indies T20I schedule
1st T20I: July 29, Trinidad
2nd T20I: August 1, St Kitts
3rd T20I: August 2, St Kitts
4th T20I: August 6, Lauderhill, USA
5th T20I: August 7, Lauderhill, USA