T20 World Cup: Team India announced its squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman from October 17. The BCCI on Wednesday announced the 15-member squad for T20 World Cup 2021. Shreyas Iyer has not been given a chance in this team. He has been replaced by left-handed explosive batsman Ishan Kishan. After announcing the team, Chief selector Chetan Sharma revealed the reason behind Ishan Kishan's surprising inclusion in the squad replacing Shreyas Iyer.
The Chief Selector stated, "Ishan Kishan can bat as an opener as well as fit in as a middle-order batsman. He gave us a lot of options as a player. He's already opened in the ODI format and even got a fifty in the first game. He's also a good player of spin in the middle order."
Chetan Sharma added, "Also a left-hander is important. When legspinners from different countries come at us, someone explosive like Ishan is important. Shreyas hasn't played much cricket of late so we have kept him in standby, That's why Ishan made the cut."
15-member Indian team for ICC T20 World Cup
Team India- Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper),Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakraborty, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami.
Standby Players- Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur.