Ashwin in T20 World Cup squad; Dhoni joins Team India as mentor

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India’s squad for the T20 World Cup late Wednesday. In a surprise move, the selectors brought back off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin after four years. The 34-year-old last played white-ball cricket for India in 2017.

Shikhar Dhawan and Yuzvendra Chahal have been axed. Interestingly, former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be India’s mentor at T20 World Cup to assist head coach Ravi Shastri.

Also read: Indian coach Ravi Shastri tests COVID-positive, isolated with 3 others

Ashwin was included in the 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup alongside Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel and Varun Chakaravarthy.

Kishan and Chakaravarthy have been rewarded for their consistent performance in the IPL and the few opportunities they got with the Indian team.

India will face Pakistan in the first match

Here is the team:

Virat Kohli (captain)
Rohit Sharma
KL Rahul
Suryakumar Yadav
Rishabh Pant (wk)
Ishan Kishan (wk)
Hardik Pandya
Ravindra Jadeja
Rahul Chahar
Ravichandran Ashwin
Axar Patel
Varun Chakravarthy
Jasprit Bumrah
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Mohammed Shami

Reserve: Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar.

This year’s T20 World Cup will be held in UAE and Oman from October 17 to November 14 and will be hosted by India.