Jasprit Bumrah is out of India’s upcoming T20 series against England, but Mohammed Shami returns after over a year out with injury.
Bumrah, 31, suffered back spasms during the fifth and final Test in Australia earlier this month and was unable to bowl during the second innings as the hosts secured a 3-1 series win to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
As such, he has been left out of the side but Shami does return to the side after a knee injury that has kept him out of action since the defeat by Australia in the 50-over World Cup final in November 2023.
Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant has been left out of the 15-man T20 squad but is likely rested after playing all five Tests in Australia, with batters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill also not included from the Test squad.
India’s Mohammad Shami has returned to the squad following an ankle injury
Dhruv Jurel and Sanju Samson are India’s options behind the stumps for the England series, while the hosts will be led by captain Suryakumar Yadav.
India are yet to name their squad for the ODI series or the Champions Trophy that follows.
World champions India host England in five T20s from January 22 to February 2, followed by a three-match one-day international series.
India’s squad for T20I series against England: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel (vc), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wk).
England’s squad for T20I series vs India: Jos Buttler (c, Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt, Mark Wood.
Atherton: England can take encouragement from Australia-India series
Sky Sports Cricket’s Michael Atherton believes England can take encouragement from the recent Test series between Australia and India as Ben Stokes’ side prepare to face both teams in the next 12 months.
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Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton believed England can be encouraged by the batting struggles of both Australia and India
Australia were handily beaten by 295 runs in the opening Test in Perth before fighting back to win the series 3-1, but Atherton saw vulnerabilities in the hosts’ batting line-up, in particular, that has the former England captain “optimistic” of a first Ashes win Down Under since 2010/11.
Travis Head and Yashavi Jaiswal were the only top-order batters on either side to average over 35 – 56.00 and 43.44, respectively – and though scourge of England in Ashes’ past, Steve Smith, matched Head’s two centuries for the series, he averaged a modest 34.88, with other big-name players, Virat Kohli (23.75), Rohit Sharma (6.20) and Marnus Labuschagne (25.77) faring even worse.
England host India in a five-Test series from June 20 this summer, before travelling to Australia for the Ashes in November.
“The lack of form for India’s top players, Rohit, Virat and others, allied with an over-reliance on [Jasprit] Bumrah, in the end was the difference,” Atherton said on the latest episode of the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.
“From an England perspective, I felt that they would have taken some encouragement… from both sides, actually.”
