Mumbai: Vice-captain Rohit Sharma and pacer Mohammed Shami will return to the Indian T20I squad for the five-match series against New Zealand, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced here on Sunday.
Virat Kohli will lead the Indian team in the 5 T20Is against the Black Caps. The tour will kick-off with the T20I series starting from January 24 in Auckland. India will also play 3 ODIs and 2 Tests against Kane Williamson's team.
Surprisingly, the five-man selection panel excluded Sanju Samson from the 16-member squad with Rishabh Pant being the lone wicketkeeper. Samson had played the third T20 against Sri Lanka in Pune, scoring six runs.
Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who made a successful comeback to the team after a long injury lay-off in the two T20Is against Sri Lanka this week, has been retained his place in T20I side along with opener Shikhar Dhawan.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was expected to make a comeback in the T20I side, has not been selected after he failed the mandatory fitness test in Mumbai on Saturday and as a result, was pulled out of the India A squad for the New Zealand tour.
Tamil Nadu captain Vijay Shankar will be sent to New Zealand as a replacement for Pandya in the India A team. They will play two 50-over warm-up games, three List A games and two four-day 'Tests' against the New Zealand A team.