India have announced their 15 man squad for the for the upcoming T20 World Cup in UAE beginning from next month.
Virat Kohli will lead the side which includes return of off-spinner R Ashwin to white ball cricket and MS Dhoni has been roped in as the team’s mentor.
Jay Shah, the BCCI Honorary Secretary, revealed the thinking behind appointing Dhoni, the former India captain who led the side to the inaugural T20 World Cup trophy.
“As far as Dhoni is concerned, I spoke to him when I was in Dubai,” said Shah. “He was okay with the decision, and he agreed to be a mentor for team India, for the T20 World Cup only.
“I spoke to the captain (Virat Kohli) and vice-captain (Rohit Sharma) as well as Ravi Shastri (the head coach), and that’s why we reached the conclusion.”
India’s T20 World Cup squad:
Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (VC), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohd Shami.
Reserve players : Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur
India will take on Pakistan on 24th October in their opening game of the mega event.