India announce World T20 squad

India have gambled on the fitness of Mohammed Shami by including the injury-prone paceman in the 15-man squad named on Friday for next month’s World Twenty20 tournament on home soil.

Young batsman Manish Pandey, who impressed with a match-winning century in the third T20 against Australia recently, wasn’t named in the squad.

Shami’s inclusion was the most eye-catching in a 15-man squad packed with experience and skippered by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who led India to victory in the 2007 inaugural tournament in South Africa.

Meanwhile, rookie left-arm spinner Pawan Negi and all-rounder Pandya were also included in the squad. “The selectors, the team management and the captain have faith in Harbhajan, his record and the contribution he has made to the team”, Patil explained. Bhuvneshwar Kumar too has been sidelined in favour of Mohammed Shami who had to come back from the tour of Australia this year with a hamstring injury. “It is not only about seniors, we are looking at players’ current performances”, he added.

Team India will play in the Asia Cup in at least 4 games.

“We experimented during Australia and discussed which players would be good for replacements”.

The BCCI has announced the Indian squad for World T20 and Asia Cup 2016 today. So was batsman Manish Pandey. The Indian team picked themselves up for the T20 series, much to the relief of Dhoni.

The Asia Cup will be played in Bangladesh from February 24-Mar.

They open their campaign against New Zealand in Nagpur on March 15.

Similarly, Harbhajan Singh is being seen as Ashwin’s cover and will only get a chance if the Tamil Nadu tweaker fails.

India: MS Dhoni (captain), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Shami, Ashish Nehra, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah.

One should not forget Mishra’s heroics in ICC World T20 2014 in Bangladesh.