India’s T20 squad for the upcoming home series against New Zealand has been announced. Rohit Sharma has been declared as the captain of the side while Virat Kohli has been rested for the T20 matches. India will play three T20s and two test matches in the series. The three T20 matches would be played at Jaipur, Ranchi and Kolkata starting from November 17.
After consecutive defeats at the hands of Pakistan and New Zealand and shock exit from the T20 world cup, BCCI has made some major changes and rested key players from the squad.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has made a comeback to the Indian team and Mohammed Siraj has also been included. T20 World Cup reserves Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel and Deepak Chahar are also included in the squad. Hardik Pandya has been dropped while Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja have been rested.
Virat Kohli captained the Indian T20 side for the last time versus Namibia at their last match of the T20 World Cup. India won the match comfortably. Kohli said, “It’s been an honour to captain India and I’ve done my best. The shortest format has to give way to the longest format. It’s time for the next lot to take the team forward. Rohit has been looking on anyway, and Indian cricket is in good hands.”
Indian Squad for T20Is: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (Vice-Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Mohd. Siraj.