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Fast bowler Mohammed Shami made a comeback to the Indian team as BCCI announced the squad for the T20I series against England, on Saturday.
Suryakumar Yadav will lead the 15-member team in the series starting in Kolkata on January 22. Axar Patel has been named his deputy.
Senior pacer Jasprit Bumrah, wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant and batter Shubman Gill have been rested.
Shami last played for India in the 2023 World Cup final in Ahmedabad after which he was sidelined due to an ankle injury for which he underwent surgery last year.
The 34-year-old made a return to cricket for the Ranji Trophy and also played in the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and is playing the on-going 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy. However he missed the bus for India’s disastrous tour of Australia because of swelling of the knee.
According to PTI, Shami has been picked because he will also be a part of the Champions Trophy squad and will be gradually working on his bowling load. He is not going to play all five games against England.
India's break out star in the Test series Down Under, all-rounder Nitish Reddy finds a place in the squad, while Dhruv Jurel has been named as the second-choice wicket-keeper behind Sanju Samson.
Sanju and Yashasvi Jaiswal will open the innings followed by Tilak Varma and skipper Surya.
Hardik Pandya and Rinku Singh are expected to bat at No. 5 five and No. 6, respectively, and they will be followed by Axar in the batting order.
The two pacers for the first couple of games will be Arshdeep Singh and Shami, with Pandya as the third seamer. The two wrist spinners -- Chakravarthy and Bishnoi -- will come into the equation to complete the expected playing XI.
The T20I series against England starts with the first T20I in Kolkata on January 22, followed by matches in Chennai (Jan 25), Rajkot (Jan 28), Pune (Jan 31) and Mumbai (Feb 2).
India and England will then face off in a three-match ODI series from February 6.
Also, in Mumbai, on Saturday, the BCCI held a review meeting of the Australia tour with captain Rohit Sharma and Head Coach Gautam Gambhir in attendance.
Team: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel (vc), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wk).