R Ashwin is one of five spinners in India's T20 World Cup squad Associated Press
Four years after he fell out of favour from India's T20I setup, R Ashwin has been handed a second chance. On Wednesday, he was named in India's 15-member squad for the T20I World Cup in the UAE this October-November. Meanwhile, MS DHONI has been named team mentor, and will work with closely with head coach Ravi Shastri and rest of the support staff to "provide support and direction," according to BCCI secretary Jay Shah.
Among the notable absentees were Shikhar Dhawan, who captained India in their short limited-overs to Sri Lanka, and the wrist spinning duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. The selection committee headed by Chetan Sharma decided to pick mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy and leg spinner Rahul Chahar instead.
SKY and Ishan Kishan who made their T20I debuts during the home series against England, also found a place in the squad. Both of them have had great success as floaters for Mumbai Indians in the IPL, and were impressive on the tour of Sri Lanka too. Kishan has been picked keeping in mind that he can open the batting too, if needed.
Shreyas Iyer who has just recovered from a shoulder injury, has been named as part of the reserves along with Shardhul Thakur and Deepak Chahar. Iyer hasn't played competitive cricket since March and has spent the last three months in rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy following a shoulder surgery in the UK.
The Kohli-led squad has three frontline allrounders in Hardik Pandya , Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, who got in ahead of fellow left-armer Krunal Pandya. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah round off the pace attack. While Shami and Bumrah have been on tour in the UK since June, Bhuvneshwar, who has largely been seen as a white-ball specialist, was India vice-captain on the Sri Lanka tour last month, where he featured in all six limited-overs matches.
India squad for T20 World Cup: Virat Kohli (capt), 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
Reserves: Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar
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