There were plenty of surprises as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India’s squad for the T20 World Cup, starting October 17 in the Oman and the UAE. The biggest of them all was the addition of MS Dhoni to Ravi Shastri-led support staff as mentor of the team.

MS Dhoni, who led India to victory in the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007, will be taking up a support staff role for the first time at the international level.

Meanwhile, the BCCI selection committee, headed by former India pacer Chetan Sharma, also came up with a few surprising picks and left out some of the big names.

Also Read: MS Dhoni named India’s mentor for T20 World Cup

No place for Chahal and Dhawan

Yuzvendra Chahal, who was India’s No. 1 spinner in the limited-overs format until a couple of years ago, was left out along with his wrist-spin partner Kuldeep Yadav. India also left out opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan, who led the side in Sri Lanka in July in the absence of Test regulars.

Washington Sundar, who will miss out on the remainder of IPL 2021, was not picked even as he is recovering from an injury setback.

R Ashwin returns after 4-year hiatus

India did not pick Chahal but went with two left-arm spinners in Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. the biggest story of India’s T20 World Cup squad announcement was R Ashwin. The off-spinner returned to the limited-overs set-up for the first time since 2017.

The former selection committee, headed by MSK Prasad, and the team management had looked towards grooming two wrist-spinners in Chahal and Kuldeep after a dismal show from Indias finger-spinners Ashwin and Jadeja at the Champions Trophy in 2017 where India lost to Pakistan in the final.

R Ashwin last played for India in the T20I format in July 2017 wherein he featured against West Indies in the West Indies. Ashwin has 52 wickets in 46 matches at an impressive economy rate of less than 7.

Ashwin has been a consistent performer for Delhi Capitals in the IPL. The off-spinner has been grooming his ability to bowl inside the powerplay as well in the crunch middle overs.

Krunal Pandya misses out

Krunal Pandya, who has been a regular for Mumbai Indians in the IPL, had traveled to the Sri Lanka in July for the limited-overs series but India have gone ahead with Axar Patel as the second left-arm spinner in the squad. Axar lastt played T20Is for India in March against England in Ahmedabad after a record-breaking Test debut earlier this year.

Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar named in stand-by group

Shreyas Iyer, who recently recovered from a shoulder injury after surgery, has not found a place in the main 15 but he is part of the 3 stand-by group.

Deepak Chahar, who has been a constant member of the limited-overs squad, is also part of the stand-by group.

Meanwhile, Shardul Thakur, who played a crucial all-round role in India’s win over England in the Oval Test, is also part of the stand-by group.

India T20 World Cup Squad

Big misses

Shikhar Dhawan

Yuzvendra Chahal

Surprise inclusions

R Ashwin

Axar Patel

India’s 15-man squad: Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami.

Standby players: Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar.