Good News for Team India: Mohammed Shami Returns to Indian Squad for T20I Series Against England

Mumbai: Team India, which recently lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, has some positive news. Star pacer Mohammed Shami has made a comeback, as the right-arm medium pacer has been selected for the upcoming T20I series against England starting on January 22 in Kolkata.

Shami, whose outstanding performance in the 2023 ODI World Cup helped India reach the final of the marquee tournament, had been sidelined due to an ankle injury that required surgery.

The T20I squad was announced on Saturday and will be led by Suryakumar Yadav. The selection committee has yet to finalize the 15-member provisional squad for the Champions Trophy, with the deadline set for January 12. The ODI squad for the upcoming series has also not been announced yet.

Jasprit Bumrah, the backbone of India’s bowling attack, is not part of the T20I squad for the England series as he is recovering from a back injury. Details about the severity of his injury are yet to be confirmed.

Explosive batsman Rishabh Pant, along with opening batsmen Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, is likely to be rested. Dhruv Jurel and Sanju Samson have been included in the squad. Nitish Reddy, who performed exceptionally well in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, has been selected along with Washington Sundar and Harshit Rana.

The release also stated that left-arm spinner Axar Patel has been named the vice-captain of the T20I squad.

The five-match T20I series will be played in Kolkata, Chennai, Rajkot, Pune, and Mumbai, concluding on February 2. The three-match ODI series will commence on February 6 in Nagpur, followed by matches in Cuttack on February 9 and Ahmedabad on February 12.

India's T20I Squad for the England Series
Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Mohammed Shami, Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakravarthy, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel (vice-captain), and Washington Sundar