The Men's Selection Committee has recalled pacer Mohammad Shami, and spinner Varun Chakravarthy while resting wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant in India's 15-member squad for the upcoming five-match T20I series against England starting from January 22 in Kolkata.
India fast bowler Mohammad Shami returned to the national team after an ankle injury that put him out of action for over a year. Shami has been absent from the colors of the nation since India's defeat to Australia in the ODI World Cup final in 2023, a game Shami ended up being the tournament's leading wicket-taker.
Shami made a successful comeback to professional cricket through Bengal’s fifth-round match in the Ranji Trophy against Madhya Pradesh at Indore, where he took seven wickets in his team’s win.
He had also been leading the bowling of Bengal in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, taking nine wickets from 11 matches at an economy of 7.85 with a best of 3-21 against Hyderabad. However, he was ruled out for the whole five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series as the injury had once again flared up.
Selectors also made some other key changes.
Pant has been rested by the committee, but Sanju Samson remains in the side after an impressive performance by the 30-year-old in-form batter during India's tour of South Africa where he scored two centuries.
Varun Chakaravarthy, who was exceptional for India in its T20I series wins against Bangladesh and South Africa, is included in the team with Kuldeep Yadav yet to get back to action and still rehabilitating after hernia surgery. Chakaravarthy was superb for Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, picking 18 wickets, including two successive five-wicket hauls, as he topped the list of wicket-takers in the competition.
Nitesh Kumar Reddy has also been included in the squad following his great performances in the 2024-25 Border Gavaskar Trophy series.
India squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel (vc), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wk).
The schedule:
Jan 22: first T20I at Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Jan 25: 2nd T20I at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Jan 28: 3rd T20I at Niranjan Shah Stadium, Rajkot
Jan 31: 4th T20I at MCA Stadium, Pune
Feb 2: 5th T20I at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
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