Shami, Nitish Reddy in, 5 players dropped: Complete list of changes in India's T20 squad for England series

India will be up against England in what promises to be a belter of a five-match T20 series, set to begin in Kolkata on Wednesday, January 22. Mohammed Shami's return after 15 months was the biggest takeaway from India's squad as the new T20 side faces its biggest challenge yet.

India will take on England in a five-match T20 series starting Wednesday, January 22 in Kolkata. It's been a couple of months since either side played a T20I or was involved in a T20 series. England have their full team available and hence the likes of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer will be licking their lips on the prospect of making the ball talk on the skiddy surface at Eden Gardens while for India, the five-match series marks the return of pacer Mohammed Shami, who is back with the national side for the first time in 14 months.

Shami hasn't played at the highest level since the ODI World Cup final in November 2023 and has had a long injury layoff with the Achilles tendon issue, which he got operated at but a problematic knee delayed his return to competitive cricket and hence, the veteran pacer missed the Border-Gavaskar series in Australia. Shami returning, however, is not the only change in India's squad for the T20 series against England from their last assignment in South Africa.

Take a look at the full list of changes-

IN:

Shami is obviously the top name on the list of inclusions. All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, whose international audition in the T20Is against Bangladesh went according to the plans, returns to the side after a breakout Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. The other members of the Test team have also been made part of the series, including off-spinning all-rounder Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, who will be the backup keeper to Sanju Samson and pacer Harshit Rana, who has also been included in the ODI squad as Jasprit Bumrah's cover for the England series.

OUT:

Among the ones, who have been left out are mostly all those who covered for the first-choice players during the South Africa series. Avesh Khan, who has featured in several T20Is for India in the last couple of years, was the notable omission. While Vijaykumar Vyshak, Yash Dayal, Ramandeep Singh and Jitesh Sharma, who were picked in the absence of the Test players have all been snubbed for the five matches against England.

India's T20 squad for England series: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel (vc), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wk)