Cricket News: BCCI Announces Indian Squad for ICC T20 World Cup

The Rohit Sharma-led 15-member squad misses out services of ace all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja who underwent surgery for his knee, an advantage Axar Patel has filled in the place as a like-for-like replacement. 

Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel, who missed Asia Cup due to injuries, have also been included in the squad after recovering completely. Besides these two coming back, Mohammad Shami has also made a comeback as he is on standby.  

India's squad is mainly along the expected lines, with few decisions regarding the fourth seamer and second spinner for the playing XI. While Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya continue to hold their spot after giving impressive performances in Asia Cup, Avesh Khan getting ruled out of the tournament due to illness has been dropped, paving the way for Harshal Patel. 

The pace attack now includes Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, and Hardik Pandya.

Ravi Bishnoi has been kept in the reserves, with three spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel, included in the squad. 

"The one point of discussion would have been whether to pick a 3rd spinner. But with Pandya available as a 4th seamer, India have the option of playing 2 spinners. I won't be surprised though if at some point, India play 5 seamers and just 1 spinner.", said Harsha Bhogle.

The preference for batters remains the same as in the Asia Cup, with the top three batters being Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli. Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Hooda, too, hold their place. India continues with two wicket-keeping options for the World Cup as Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik both make it to the squad. 

"Dreams do come true", Dinesh Karthik wrote on Twitter.

Apart from Mohammad Shami and Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar and Shreyas Iyer, too, have been kept in reserves. 

Akash Chopra said, "Players sitting on the bench or missing from the squad keep getting better as the losses pile up for the team that's playing…."

India's squad for the T20I series against Australia and South Africa

For the three-match T20I series against Australia, Mohammad Shami and Deepak Chahar have been included in the squad. While Mohammad Shami hasn't played any T20I since last year's World Cup, Deepak Chahar did make a comeback in T20I against Afghanistan in Asia Cup. 

While Arshdeep Singh will miss the series against Australia, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya will miss out on the assignment against South Africa to manage workload and consider the injury factor. 

Australia will play their three T20Is from 20th September, whereas South Africa will start their tour for T20I and ODI series on 28th September.