Nottingham: Virat Kohli won’t have to think about Ben Stokes when India tours England, at least for the T20s that is as England decided to leave out the all-rounder from the squad announced on Tuesday for the upcoming Twenty20 series against Australia and India.
ECB had given indications of Stokes’s return to the T20 squad but decided against including him in the 14-man squad.
However, there is a possibility of Stokes returning for the India series. England said Monday the hamstring tear Stokes suffered before that second Test against Pakistan was "progressing well", and it was possible hoped he could play in the three-match Twenty20 series against India starting on July 3.
That remains a possibility as the Durham star will travel with the squad selected for those three matches and the preceding one-off Twenty20 fixture against Australia, which will follow the ongoing one-day international series, at Edgbaston on June 27.
The 14-man squad did contain Surrey seamer Sam Curran, who made his Test debut against Pakistan at Headingley earlier this month. He will share the stage with his brother Tom Curran, making it the first instance of two brothers being included in the English T20 side.
Fast bowler Mark Wood, a county colleague of Stokes's at Durham, has been rested from the squad, with Jake Ball now in contention to win his first Twenty20 cap.
Middlesex batsman Dawid Malan was a surprising omission given he has four fifties in just five T20 international appearances including two in succession in England's most recent matches in New Zealand.
He averages exactly 50 in the format, but he was omitted along with T20 regulars Sam Billings and Liam Dawson.
But Test captain Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow returned alongside Moeen Ali, after the Yorkshire duo were rested from England's Twenty20 programme last winter.
"Durham seamer Mark Wood is rested," said an England and Wales Cricket Board statement issued Tuesday.
"All-rounder Ben Stokes will be with the squad throughout the series as he continues his rehabilitation from his torn left hamstring."
Chris Woakes was again omitted as he has yet to regain full fitness after tearing his thigh and having an injection in, what England hve said, is a "chronic" knee injury.
The Warwickshire paceman still hopes to be available an time for the three-match one-day international series against India, which starts on July 12.
England Twenty20 squad for Australia and India series: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Jake Ball (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire, wkt), Sam Curran (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), David Willey (Yorkshire)