Rishabh Pant, who was India’s preferred wicketkeeper at the 2024 T20 World Cup and in two of the three T20Is in Sri Lanka in July last year, was not part of the squad; he was likely rested along with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill after playing the Test series in Australia. Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel are the two wicketkeepers for the T20Is against England. Batting allrounder Riyan Parag was not available because he is recovering from a shoulder injury.
Since returning to domestic cricket in November 2024, Shami played all nine of Bengal’s T20 matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, taking 11 wickets with an economy rate of 7.85. He played only three of Bengal’s seven 50-over games in the following Vijay Hazare Trophy though, with five wickets at an average of 25.80. During this period, there was constant speculation over whether Shami would be passed fit to join the India Test squad in Australia but that did not happen due to a recurring swelling in his knee.
India host England for five T20Is in Kolkata, Chennai, Rajkot, Pune and Mumbai between January 22 and February 2, followed by three ODIs in Nagpur (February 6), Cuttack (February 9) and Ahmedabad (February 12). Those are the only ODIs India will play before the Champions Trophy begins on February 19; they only played three ODIs in 2024, in Sri Lanka last August.
India’s T20I squad for England series
Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel (vice-capt), Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakravarthy, Washington Sundar
