The national selection committee on September 12 (Monday) announced the 15-member India squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia starting October 16. Ace pacemen Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel were named in the squad after the both bowlers recovered from their respective injuries while Dinesh Karthik was also included in the squad.
The selectors named four players - Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi and Deepak Chahar - as standby players for the T20 World Cup. Former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin was left surprised by the selection committee's decision to omit Shami and Iyer from the main squad.
Replying to BCCI's tweet, the former India captain said "Surprised at the omission of Shreyas Iyer and Md. Shami from the main squad. Shreyas Iyer instead of Deepak Hooda and Md. Shami in the place of Harshal Patel would be my choice."
Shami, who made his T20I debut for India in 2014 World Cup, has played just 17 matches for the country in the shortest format of the game. Several cricket savants have been of the opinion that Shami's style of bowling was tailor-made for Australian conditions.
Meanwhile, Iyer has represented the Men in Blue in 46 T20Is so far, scoring 1,029 runs in the process.
Team India squad for T20 World Cup 2022: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
Standby players - Mohd. Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar.
