Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli will return to lead the team for three Twenty20 internationals and three ODI matches against the West Indies starting next month, national selectors announced Thursday.
Besides star batsman Kohli, fast bowlers Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and spin-bowling all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja have also made a comeback to India's T20 squad.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson and pacers Khaleel Ahmed and Shardul Thakur, who were part of India's squad against Bangladesh, were left out.
Senior batsman Rohit Sharma captained the Twenty20 team in the limited-overs series against Bangladesh in Kohli's absence.
Many critics expected Indian selectors to make several other changes in the squad including Samson getting an extended run.
Samson, a wicketkeeper and top-order batsman, is seen by many as a possible replacement for India's out-of-form wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant.
India and West Indies will play their first match on December 6 in Mumbai.
The final game of the tour will be played in Cuttack on December 22.
India are expected to try many new line-ups in the shortest format of the game over the next few months to prepare their squad for the T20 World Cup next year.
T20 squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
ODI squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Randy Brooks
