Jasprit Bumrah, Sanju Samson back; Hardik Pandya missed out when India announced the squad for Afghanistan T20Is

ByTech Word News

NEW DELHI: India have announced a 15-man squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, with Jasprit Bumrah set to return to the side while Hardik Pandya misses out after suffering a fresh setback in his comeback bid.Shreyas Iyer will continue to lead the party and Tilak Varma will be his deputy. Young batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who was part of the squad for the Zimbabwe series, also retained his place.Bumrah returns to the T20I squad after missing the recent series against Ireland and England as well as the Zimbabwe tour. Sanju Samson, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana are the other players returning after missing the Zimbabwe series.As reported by TimesofIndia.com earlier, Pandya’s comeback plans suffered a fresh setback after a late niggle forced him to discontinue bowling at the BCCI Center of Excellence. He progressed well in his recovery, but the setback cast doubt on his availability for the Afghanistan series.Pandya has not played competitive cricket since his IPL appearance for Mumbai Indians on 24 May, while his last appearance for India came in the T20 World Cup final on 8 March.Samson and Ishan Kishan are the two options in the squad while Abhishek Sharma, Sooryavanshi, Iyer, Tilak and Shivam Dube are among the batting options.The group of all-rounders includes Dube, Nitish, Axar and Washington while Varun Chakaravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi are the two specialist spinners.Bumrah, Arshdeep and Harshit form the pace-bowling group. However, Bumrah, Reddy, Sundar and Rana are subject to clearance.Eight players who were part of the Zimbabwe squad missed out this time. They are Suryansh Shedge, Rinku Singh, Harsh Dubey, Prince Yadav, Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav and Prabhsimran Singh.The Afghanistan team sees India revert to a more experienced combination after the selectors used the Zimbabwe series to give a few players an opportunity outside the regular T20I set-up.

  • India squad for Afghanistan T20Is: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Tilak Varma (VC), Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Axar Patel, Chakar, Jaspritishno Varirah*, Washington Jaspritishno Varirah* Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana*.

(NOTE: * Subject to Eligibility Approval)