Ashwin in WC T20 squad, no place for Dhawan, Chahal

The All-India Senior Selection Committee on Wednesday picked the Indian Cricket Team for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 with Shikhar Dhawan and Yuzvendra Chahal the big ommissions in the 15-member squad. R Ashwin, Varun Chakravarthy and Rahul Chahar make the cut, while Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar are named as standby players.

Ashwin, who last played a T20I in 2017, makes a surprise return to the shortest format and the 15-member squad consists of five spinners. The surprise exclusion is that of Yuzvndra Chahal who had a decent in the T20I series in Sri Lanka. leg-spinner Rahul Chahar has earned a spot in the squad after his impressive performances against England and Sri Lanka.

While there are no surprises in the batting unit, Shikhar Dhawan is the big name to miss and it was on expected lines. Ishan Kishan pips Sanju Samson as the back-up wicketkeeper to Rishabh Pant in the 15-member squad while Shreyas Iyer is named in the standbys list. Also in the standbys list in Shardul Thakur, who was expected to be named in the squad proper.

In the pace bowling department, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are the specialist fast bowlers with Pandya likely to play the fourth seamer’s role. Apart from Pandya, allrounders Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel also find a place in the squad while finger spinner Varun Chakravarthy also makes the cut.

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