Team India Updated squad for T20 World Cup: Shardul Thakur in!

Bowling all rounder Shardul Thakur made it to India’s 15-man squad for the upcoming edition of T20 World Cup. Shardul replaces left-arm spinner Axar Patel from the main squad. Axar will now move to the standby players list which includes Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Chahar.

The decision comes after a discussion between the All India Selection Committee and the team management. There is no injury concern what so ever from Axar Patel’s end. The growing worry over Hardik Pandya’s bowling skill as he hasn’t resumed bowling yet could have been the major concern which might have prompted Thakur’s inclusion

Thakur, who played the last of his 22 T20Is in the series against England in Ahmedabad early this year, has slowly emerged as an all-round option for India across formats. His batting credentials received a significant fillip at The Oval Test last month when his twin fifties helped setup India’s final-day win.

Thakur has also been a central figure in Chennai Super Kings’ run to the IPL 2021 final, taking 18 wickets (highest for the franchise) from 15 games at an average of 27.16 conceding 8.75 runs per over. He just got to face 5 deliveries in the tournament – depicts the batting prowess CSK possesses.

Meanwhile, even with Axar’s relegation to the stand-by list, India have four spinners in their squad namely Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy.

Updated 15-member Squad:

Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket keeper), Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami

Standby Cricketers: Deepak Chahar, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer.

Net Bowlers: Avesh Khan, Umran Malik, Harshal Patel, Lukman Meriwala, Venkatesh Iyer, Karn Sharma, Shahbaz Ahmed and Krishnappa Gowtham

India begin their World Cup campaign on October 24 when they take on Pakistan. Team India will feature in 2 warm up matches against Australia and South Africa ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup.