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India squad – Mohammed Shami returns for T20I series against England

Fast bowler Mohammed Shami has finally made a comeback to the India squad with his selection for the five T20Is against England starting on January 22 in Kolkata. He returns after last playing for India in the ODI World Cup final in November 2023, after which he had ankle surgery and also suffered from knee-related niggles.

The T20I squad, led by Suryakumar Yadav, was picked by the selectors on Saturday but they are yet to announce India’s ODI squad for the three matches against England in February as well as the provisional 15 for the Champions Trophy, the deadline for which is January 12.

Jasprit Bumrah was not among the 15 for the T20Is against England, with uncertainty still prevailing over the nature of the injury that prevented him from bowling in Australia’s second innings of the fifth Test in Sydney.

Rishabh Pant, who was India’s preferred wicketkeeper at the 2024 T20 World Cup and in two of the three T20Is in Sri Lanka in July last year, was not part of the squad; he was likely rested along with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill after playing the Test series in Australia. Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel are the two wicketkeepers for the T20Is against England. Batting allrounder Riyan Parag was not available because he is recovering from a shoulder injury.

From the 15 that won a T20I series 3-1 in South Africa last November, the selectors have left out Ramandeep Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal and Vijaykumar Vyshak. They have been replaced by Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Dhruv Jurel, and Washington Sundar – all of whom missed that series because they were part of India’s Test tour of Australia – as well as Shami.

Since returning to domestic cricket in November 2024, Shami played all nine of Bengal’s T20 matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, taking 11 wickets with an economy rate of 7.85. He played only three of Bengal’s seven 50-over games in the following Vijay Hazare Trophy though, with five wickets at an average of 25.80. During this period, there was constant speculation over whether Shami would be passed fit to join the India Test squad in Australia but that did not happen due to a recurring swelling in his knee.

Axar Patel was named vice-captain of the T20I squad in the BCCI media release. The two previous T20I squad announcements, for the series at home against Bangladesh and in South Africa, did not specify a vice-captain. Gill was the previous deputy when India played the T20I series in Sri Lanka in July.

India host England for five T20Is in Kolkata, Chennai, Rajkot, Pune and Mumbai between January 22 and February 2, followed by three ODIs in Nagpur (February 6), Cuttack (February 9) and Ahmedabad (February 12). Those are the only ODIs India will play before the Champions Trophy begins on February 19; they only played three ODIs in 2024, in Sri Lanka last August.

India’s T20I squad for England series

Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel (vice-capt), Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakravarthy, Washington Sundar

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