Ashwin back in India’s T20 squad

Ravichandran Ashwin has been included as part of India’s 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman beginning October 17.

Ashwin hasn’t played in a T20 international match since 2017.

The other big announcement of the day was the addition of former India skipper MS Dhoni to the squad as mentor.

Led by Virat Kohli, with Rohit Sharma as the vice-captain, the Indian squad doesn’t have place for opener Shikhar Dhawan.

The other big surprise was the exclusion of Yuzvendra Chahal who has been a consistent performer in the T20 format.

Mystery leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy has also made the cut.

Pacer Mohammed Shami too has been included in the squad while Ishan Kishan has been included as the second wicketkeeper in the squad.

Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar have been named as standby players.

India have been placed in Group 2 of the Super 12 phase for the World Cup.

Eight teams have already qualified to this phase, where they will be joined by four teams from the first round.

India’s group also features Afghanistan, New Zealand and arch-rivals Pakistan and will have two more teams from the first round.

Ashwin took to Twitter to express joy on his T20I recall.

The 34-year-old cricketer shared a quote that he had put up on a wall at his home, saying “happiness and gratitude are the only 2 words that define me now”.

The squad

 Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohd Shami.