Mumbai: A day after Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri threw weight behind Rohit Sharma, the BCCI on Tuesday named him as Team India's T20I captain while announcing a 16-member squad for three T20Is against New Zealand, beginning later this month.
KL Rahul has been appointed as vice-captain of the team.
The selectors have rested Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja for T20Is. The reason for resting these top-notch players lies in the fact that India would be embarking on a long tour of South Africa beginning December.
As the seasoned players have been rested, IPL sensations Venkatesh Iyer and Harshal Patel, get their maiden international call-ups.
While playing a crucial role in posting KKR in the IPL final, Iyer had scored a total of 370 runs at an average of 41.11 with four 50s and claimed three wickets.
Representing RCB, Harshal was on a high in the IPL after he stood tall for being the leading wicket-taker with 32 wickets, including taking a hat-trick against Mumbai Indians.
Young pacer Avesh Khan also has been picked up in the squad after his superb show by picking 24 wickets for Delhi Capitals.
Avesh was one of the reserve players for the England Test series, but returned home after suffering an injury during a warm-up match.
Right-arm leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal returned to the side after he was dropped for the T20 WC. He will be rolling over his hands in the company of Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel.
Standby at the World Cup, Shreyas Iyer, has been included into the squad, along with the return of Ruturaj Gaikwad, the Orange Cap winner in the last IPL, who blasted 635 runs for Chennai Super Kings. He was part of India's squad for the Sri Lanka tour, but failed to impress.
BCCI also India A squad and itinerary for 3 four-day matches in South Africa, which will take place on November 23, November 29 and December 6 in Bloemfontein.
The body has picked up Priyank Panchal as captain along with the inclusion of RCB young batter Devdutt Padikkal, and Sunrisers Hyderabad's latest pace sensation Umran Malik.
India's T20I squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (Vice-Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj. (UNI)
