Mohammad Shami returns to India's squad.
Mohammad Shami returns to India's squad. Image Credit: X

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced their squad for the upcoming five home T20Is against England, as the experienced pacer, Mohammad Shami, has returned for the national side after 14 months since the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, after which he went through ankle surgery and faced knee niggles.

India’s T20I squad will be led by their regular captain, Suryakumar Yadav. The premier all-rounder of the side, Hardik Pandya, has been ignored for the vice-captaincy, with the responsibility being shifted to Axar Patel. The selectors are yet to announce the squad for the three ODIs and the Champions Trophy 2025.

Jasprit Bumrah has not found a place after being monitored for the back injury that ruled him out of the bowling in the second innings of the fifth Sydney Test. The wicket-keeper batter, Rishabh Pant, wasn’t preferred for the series, along with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, who have been given a break.

Mohammad Shami returns to India’s T20I squad after 26 months

The two wicket-keepers for India in the series are Rajasthan Royals’ captain Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel. At the same time, Riyan Parag wasn’t available due to his lengthy recovery from the shoulder injury. The selection committee has left out Ramandeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Jitesh Sharma, and Avesh Khan from the squad that won the away South Africa series by a 3-1 margin.

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Mohammad Shami will be featuring in the shortest format for the blue brigade for the very first time since the semifinal of the 2022 T20 World Cup at Adelaide against England. In an eight-year T20I career, the right-arm pacer has collected only 24 wickets in 23 innings at an average of around 30 and an economy rate of nearly nine.

The Bengal pacer will be marking his comeback at the home ground, Eden Gardens in Kolkata, where the series starts on January 22. The veteran returned to the domestic circuit against Madhya Pradesh during the fifth round of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 for Bengal. He also turned up for the T20 matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with 11 scalps at an economy rate of around eight. The Uttar Pradesh-born featured in three of the seven games in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 to enjoy five wickets at 25.80.

There was speculation of the pacer being available for India during the recently finished five-match Test series against Australia down under, but he never got the fitness certificate from the BCCI.

Axar Patel, the new vice-captain of the side as per the media release, will be aiming to get some game time before probably getting an opportunity for the national side in the ODI series and the Champions Trophy 2025 in Dubai. In 66 games of the shortest format, the left-arm spin all-rounder has cracked 498 runs at a strike rate of 142.28, besides pocketing 65 scalps at an economy rate of 7.31.

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Varun Chakaravarthy, who has already grabbed 19 T20I scalps in 13 innings at an economy rate of 6.79, has held his position. After Kolkata, the action will move to the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, followed by Rajkot, Pune, and Mumbai. This will be connected with the upcoming three ODIs at home against the Jos Buttler side.

India’s Squad For 3 ODIs vs England

Suryakumar Yadav (captain), 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.