On Saturday, the BCCI named the T20I squad for the IND vs ENG series, and as expected, there were a few surprise calls in the series. One of India’s best pacers, Mohammed Shami finally made his comeback after a year-long injury hiatus, having last played for the country in the World Cup 2023 final. Apart from that, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel decided to give a chance in the shortest format to Harshit Rana and Dhruv Jurel.
Mohammed Shami Back in Indian Team
While one did not expect Shami to make a comeback in the T20I at least, this would be a chance for him to slowly get into the groove by the time the IND vs ENG ODIs, and the Champions Trophy arrive. Surprisingly, the last T20I Mohammed Shami played was in 2022, vs England at Adelaide, in the T20 World Cup, that India lost. Overall, he has just played 23 T20I matches, and bagged only 24 wickets.
Apart from that, two glaring changes in the team were that of Harshit and Jurel, who were part of the IND vs AUS Tests as well. He has played a couple of T20I till now, that too against Zimbabwe in 2024, where he couldn’t perform well. In two matches, he could only score 6 runs.
Harshit Rana & Dhruv Jurel Also Included
On the other hand, Harshit could very well be handed his T20I debut in the upcoming series. He has a decent record in T20s and even in IPL. In 25 matches, he has picked 28 wickets, while in the IPL, playing for KKR, he has picked 25 wickets in 21 matches.
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India T20 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, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wk)
