Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India’s squad for three-match T20I series against Australia starting October 7. The T20I squad was announced a few hours after India’s 4-1 win in the ODI series against Australia at Nagpur. India reached to the top of the ICC ODI rankings and they will be looking to climb up the ICC T20I rankings as well when they take on Australia. The squad has a few surprises for everyone as veteran fast bowler Ashish Nehra returns to the side after injury. The 38-year-old did not play any T20I after India vs England T20I series earlier in 2017.
Another surprise entry is Dinesh Karthik who will get to make a comeback. He was dropped from the ODI squad after India’s tour of West Indies 2017. Ravindra Jadeja, too, will be missing out of the squad after being dropped from the squad in the last two ODIs without playing a single match. Shikhar Dhawan too returns to the fold; he was away from the international games due to personal commitment.
Ajinkya Rahane getting dropped from the side will raise a few eyebrows. He played well in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 for Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) and followed it up with performances on West Indies tour and the recently concluded ODI series against Australia where he did not let Dhawan’s absence affect India’s opening stands.
Suresh Raina too failed to make a comeback once again. There were speculations that he might be included in the side. Similarly, Yuvraj Singh too could not find a berth on the side. Rishabh Pant too has got dropped after playing a single T20I against West Indies.
TEAM: Kohli (Capt),Rohit (VC), Shikhar, Rahul, Pandey, Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MSD(wk), Hardik, Kuldeep, Chahal, Bumrah, Bhuvi, Nehra, Axar. https://t.co/uoeu1UzDny
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 1, 2017
India T20I squad
Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Axar Patel
Australia’s T20I squad
Steven Smith(c), David Warner, Jason Behrendorff, Daniel Christian, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Andrew Tye
