India's 15-man squad for the upcoming Asia Cup and ICC World Twenty20 has been named along similar lines as the unit that contributed to a landmark 3-0 sweep of Australia and was named for three matches with Sri Lanka, the only changes being that Mohammed Shami was recalled at the expense of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Manish Pandey expectedly made way for Virat Kohli.
Shami had returned from Australia before the ODI series had begun with a hamstring injury and the BCCI had set, at that time, that his recovery period would be between four to six weeks. Sandeep Patil, the chairman of selectors, confirmed that the Bengal fast bowler had recovered and that there was not reserve fast bowler should Shami suffer a recurrence.
"Mohammed Shami is fit, bowling well and has recovered, that is all I can say at the moment," said Patil after the squad for both tournaments was named. "Regarding Manish Pandey, it is difficult to say whether a player is dropped or rested, its a tough call to make because Manish did exceptionally well in Australia. He is a player for the future."
Pandey, who scored a match-winning maiden ODI century in the final match in Sydney recently, is Kohli's replacement for the Sri Lanka series but the selectors stuck with Ajinkya Rahane, who also gives the team a back-up opener's option. The squad, to be led by MS Dhoni, is otherwise the same as the one selected for the Sri Lanka series. Yuvraj Singh, Ashish Nehra and Harbhajan Singh remain, as do the rookie pair of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya.
R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are the first-choice spinners, and the men currently serving as cover for them are Harbhajan Singh and the uncapped left-arm spinner Negi. Negi, 23, was this week named in the T20 squad for Sri Lanka and has been retained for the Asia Cup and World T20. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy he took six wickets at 33.66 (economy 8.71) and scored173 runs at 86.50 with a strike-rate of 173 for Delhi.
"This is the best combination of 15 we can think of," Patil said in a press conference after the meeting. Patil expressed his faith in Dhoni's leadership despite the recent mixed run. "We have no right to tell people when to retire, we have total faith in Dhoni's captaincy. He is the right person to lead in Asia Cup and World T20," Patil said.
From the squad that toured Australia recently, Rishi Dhawan, Gurkeerat Singh Mann and Umesh Yadav had been dropped for the Sri Lanka series. "Manish Pandey performed exceptionally well in Australia, his name was also discussed," Patil said.
"When selectors pick a team, we always give importance to domestic performance. It is not that we are only looking at seniors, we have looked at the performance, fitness and record of the domestic players as well. We have taken into account all the performances of not just 15-16 guys but all the domestic players and then picked these 15," he added.
"Harbhajan has been a part of this team. The selectors, the team management and the captain have faith in Harbhajan, his record and the contribution he has made to the team," Patil explained.
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India T20 squad:
MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane/Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Mohammed Shami, Pawan Negi.
