Dhruv Jurel has been preferred over Rishabh Pant as the backup wicketkeeper, with Sanju Samson being the primary wicketkeeper batter.
Mohammed Shami will finally return to the Indian setup after being out of action for over a year due to an injury. He will feature in the five-match T20I series against England, starting later this month as BCCI announced the squad for the series.
He underwent surgery to repair his Achilles tendon last year and returned to competitive cricket in the Ranji Trophy. After the red-ball format, he also featured in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, a T20 format, before playing in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Bengal, proving his fitness after missing out on a spot in the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
The team hopes to see him go unscathed in the T20I series, so they can include him in the ODI setup without worrying about his fitness. India will also play the ODI series against England before the all-important Champions Trophy 2025.
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Meanwhile, Dhruv Jurel has been preferred over Rishabh Pant as the backup wicketkeeper, with Sanju Samson being the primary wicketkeeper batter. Despite getting ample chances in the shortest format, Pant’s returns were underwhelming, so the team has finally moved on and tried fresh faces.
Jurel, who has played just two T20Is, was picked as the second wicketkeeper ahead of Pant. In 40 T20s, Jurel 21 and has a strike-rate of 133.
Those numbers, though, do not exactly reveal how good Jurel’s development has been. In 28 IPL games, Jurel averages 23 and has a strike-rate of over 150.
Nitish Kumar Reddy, who has had an exceptional start to his international career, will continue featuring in the shortest format. He has 90 runs at a strike rate of 180 in three T20Is, including a fifty.
Meanwhile, Riyan Parag will remain out of action due to a right shoulder injury. The BCCI released an update, revealing he was at the BCCI Centre of Excellence for a long-term solution to this injury during the squad announcement for the South Africa series in October last year.
Shivam Dube is also omitted from the team due to the emergence of Nitish Kumar Reddy. There was no return for Yashasvi Jaiswal to the T20I side again, while Abhishek Sharma, who has blown hot and cold in the international arena, was named.
The five-match T20I series against England will start on January 22 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. A three-match ODI series against the same opponent will follow that will serve as a preparation for the Champions Trophy.
Another notable addition is that of Axar Patel as the vice-captain of the side.
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)
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