Shami makes much-awaited return, picked for England T20Is

Veteran pacer Mohammed Shami is set to make his international comeback after being named in India's squad for the upcoming T20I series against England at home. The 34-year-old hasn't been part of the national team since the 2023 ODI World Cup final owing to an ankle injury, following which he had to undergo surgery.

The appointment of Axar Patel as the vice-captain is the major talking point in the squad. Axar's elevation comes in spite of Hardik Pandya's presence in the squad. Hardik was India's captain in the shortest format leading up to the T20 World Cup last year before which Rohit Sharma took over the reins again.

Rishabh Pant has been omitted from the squad, with Dhruv Jurel being named as the second-choice keeper. Sanju Samson continues to be the frontline keeper-batter option and is expected to continue at the top of the order alongside Abhishek Sharma.

Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana and Washington Sundar are back in the setup after missing the South Africa tour owing to their participation in the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. Ramandeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal and Jitesh Sharma have made way for the five inclusions.

The five-match series kicks off on January 22 in Kolkata with the next four games scheduled to be held in Chennai, Rajkot, Pune and Mumbai. The teams will then clash in a three-match ODI series prior to the Champions Trophy.

Squad:

• Suryakumar Yadav (C)
• Sanju Samson (wk)
• Abhishek Sharma
• Tilak Varma
• Hardik Pandya
• Rinku Singh
• Nitish Kumar Reddy
• Axar Patel (vc)
• Harshit Rana
• Arshdeep Singh
• Mohammed Shami
• Varun Chakravarthy
• Ravi Bishnoi
• Washington Sundar
• Dhruv Jurel (wk)