The BCCI on Saturday (January 6) named Team India’s 16-member squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, starting on January 11 in Mohali.

This series will be the final T20I assignment for India before the T20 World Cup 2024, slated to be held in the West Indies and USA from June 1 to June 29.

With regular skipper Hardik Pandya and stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav both unavailable due to injuries, the selectors named Rohit Sharma as captain.

The Afghanistan series will mark Rohit’s return to T20Is after more than a year. Notably, the right-handed opener hasn’t played in the shortest format for India since the T20 World Cup semi-final against England in November 2022.

The squad also features star batter Virat Kohli, who hasn’t featured in T20Is since the T20 World Cup 2022 as well.

Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma and Rinku Singh are the other batters in the squad. Jitesh Sharma and Sanju Samson are the two designated wicketkeeper batters in the squad.

Washington Sundar, Akshar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi are the spinners in the squad while Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar are the fast-bowling options.

Team India squad for Afghanistan T20Is:

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Akshar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar