Tilak Varma, who has starred for the Mumbai Indians in the last couple of IPL seasons, got his first call-up to the Indian team as the part of the T20I squad named by the BCCI for the upcoming five-match series against West Indies. The squad announcement, made on Wednesday, was the first for the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee.
In addition to Tilak, Ravi Bishnoi, the leg-spinner, made a comeback to the team, which will be led by Hardik Pandya, with Suryakumar Yadav serving as his deputy. Notably, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were not included in the squad.
Following the disappointing loss to Australia in the final of the World Test Championship at The Oval last month, India made significant changes by introducing new faces to the Test set-up. And now, the T20I team continues to evolve under Pandya’s captaincy.
The ODI squad predominantly consisted of known faces, with Ruturaj Gaikwad also finding a place in the white-ball set-up. Sanju Samson was also given a recall, with KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant still sidelined by injuries.
Despite their impressive performances in the IPL, Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma missed out on selection.
India’s T20I squad comprises the following players: Ishan Kishan (wk), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Surya Kumar Yadav (VC), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya (c), Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Avesh Khan, and Mukesh Kumar.