Mohammed Shami Makes a Comeback for India’s T20I Series Against England|
Mohammed Shami is all set to return to the Indian T20I squad for the T20I series against England, scheduled to begin from January 22 in Kolkata. Shami has been selected for the series after being rested following the ODI World Cup final he played in November 2023. He was sidelined due to ankle surgery and knee-related issues.
While the T20I side, with Suryakumar Yadav as skipper, was decided upon on January 6, the selectors are yet to declare India’s ODI side for the three-match series against England in February as well as the provisional 15-player squad for the Champions Trophy, and January 12 is day of reckoning.
Jasprit Bumrah was conspicuous by his absence from the T20I team due to persistent uncertainty over his injury, which ruled him out of bowling for Australia in their second innings in the fifth Test at Sydney. Rishabh Pant, India’s regular wicketkeeper during the 2024 T20 World Cup and in the Sri Lanka series last July, has also been omitted, likely being rested along with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill after their participation in the Test series in Australia. Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel have been named as the wicketkeepers for the T20I series.
Batting allrounder Riyan Parag is not available for selection as he is recovering from a shoulder injury.
Of the 15 players who won India’s T20I series 3-1 in South Africa in November, the selectors have omitted Ramandeep Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal, and Vijaykumar Vyshak. They replace them with Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Dhruv Jurel, and Washington Sundar, all of whom were unavailable for that series because they were part of India’s Test tour of Australia, and Shami, who returns.
In domestic cricket, Shami came back in November 2024 to play all nine matches for Bengal in the T20 tournament Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and managed to grab 11 wickets with an economy rate of 7.85. In Vijay Hazare Trophy, he took five wickets in three out of Bengal’s seven games of 50-over format. Still, speculations have been continuous that he does not get a fit into the Test squad for India when the tour goes to Australia; his name did not make it, although because of recurrent knee swelling.
Axar Patel has been appointed vice-captain of the T20I team. Interestingly, in the previous T20I squads for series against Bangladesh and South Africa, there was no designated vice-captain, with Shubman Gill acting as deputy in India’s T20 series in Sri Lanka.
India will host England for five T20Is across Kolkata, Chennai, Rajkot, Pune, and Mumbai between January 22 and February 2, ahead of three ODIs in Nagpur (February 6), Cuttack (February 9), and Ahmedabad (February 12). These three ODIs will be the last games for India before the Champions Trophy begins on February 19.
India’s T20I Squad for the England Series:
Suryakumar Yadav (c)
Sanju Samson (wk)
Abhishek Sharma
Tilak Varma
- Nitish Kumar Reddy
- Mohammed Shami
- Arshdeep Singh
- Harshit Rana
- Dhruv Jurel (wk)
- Rinku Singh
- Hardik Pandya
- Axar Patel (vice-captain)
- Ravi Bishnoi
- Varun Chakravarthy
- Washington Sundar
