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Since making his debut against Zimbabwe in Harare on July 17, 2015, the 30-year-old all-rounder has played 66 T20Is for India and has picked up 65 wickets.
BCCI ignore Hardik Pandya and appoint Axar Patel as India’s vice-captain for T20I series against England. (Picture Credit: PTI)
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took to X on Saturday (January 11) to announce India’s squad for the upcoming five-match T20I series against England. The series opener is scheduled to take place at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on January 22, and the next four matches are set to be played on January 25, 28, 31, and February 2 in Chennai, Rajkot, Pune, and Mumbai, respectively.
Suryakumar Yadav will lead the Indian team, and the 15-member squad includes the likes of T20I regulars Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Sanju Samson, and Tilak Varma, among others. Star fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who last played for India in the ODI World Cup 2023 final on November 19, 2023, has also been picked for the shortest format series along with Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, and Dhruv Jurel. The quartet was part of India’s Test squad in the recently concluded five-match series against Australia.
For the home series against England, the BCCI selectors have appointed star all-rounder Axar Patel as India’s vice-captain. The 30-year-old cricketer from Gujarat was preferred for the role of Surya’s deputy over Hardik. Hardik has served as India’s captain in the past, and he was the favourite to take over the charge of India’s T20I team after Rohit Sharma’s retirement in June 2024. But the 31-year-old cricketer was not only ignored for captaincy but also was stripped of the vice-captaincy job.
In his place, Shubman Gill was appointed as India’s vice-captain for the three-match series against Sri Lanka in July 2024, and no vice-captain was named for the three-match series against Bangladesh in October 2024 and the four-match away series against South Africa in November last year.
Axar, who played a big role in helping India win the 2024 edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, has played 66 matches for India so far in the shortest format and, with the help of one half-century, scored 498 runs. He has also 65 wickets to his name.
Axar played all four T20Is for India in the away tour of South Africa last year and finished the series with 35 runs and three wickets.
India’s squad for the T20I series against England: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Axar Patel (VC), Sanju Samson (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar
