Ace seamer Jasprit Bumrah has returned to the India squad for the three-match Afghanistan T20Is starting September 13 in Delhi. The BCCI selection committee also recalled all-rounders Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar and Harshit Rana for the upcoming series.
Bumrah’s selection, however, remains subject to getting fitness clearance from BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE). While Sanju Samson, Axar Patel and Arshdeep Singh return to the 15-man squad after being rested for the Zimbabwe T20Is, Hardik Pandya misses out.
India’s T20I squad for Afghanistan Series –
Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar*, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah*, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana*
*Subject to fitness clearance
Varun Chakravarthy, who hurt his hamstring midway through the England T20Is and missed the subsequent Zimbabwe series, has also returned to the T20I squad. Among those left out were Rinku Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Harsh Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Ashok Sharma, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav and Yash Thakur.
Meanwhile, Bumrah featured in the first two ODIs against England before getting ruled out of the third One-Dayer and the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka. He suffered a recurrence of an injury in his left knee – an issue he has been nursing since the T20 World Cup. Rana and Sundar also suffered hamstring injuries on the England tour, while Reddy tore his quadriceps during the home three-match ODI series against Afghanistan.
On the other hand, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has also retained his place in the T20I side, with India playing two specialist keepers in Samson and Ishan Kishan. Shivam Dube and Tilak Varma will handle middle and lower-order duties. In the spin bowling department, India picked Varun and Ravi Bishnoi as frontline spinners, leaving out Kuldeep Yadav.
India will play Afghanistan in Delhi on September 13, 15 and 17. Though the matches are being played in India, Afghanistan are the official hosts of this series.