On Sunday evening, the BCCI finally put most rumors to bed by naming both Rohit Sharma, who is also named the captain, and Virat Kohli in the squad to face Afghanistan for 3 T20Is this month.
India will host Afghanistan for 3 T20Is, on January 11, 14, and 17, before the Test series against England commences on January 25th.
There were speculations among fans about whether one or both or none will be selected for the T20I series, and what is their future in the shortest format for India. However, both the senior players made themselves available for the Afghanistan T20I series in their chat with chief selector Ajit Agarkar, who had flown to Cape Town.
One query, though, still remains: who will lead India in the T20 World Cup? Since Hardik Pandya is currently injured, naming Rohit Sharma as the skipper for this series was the obvious choice for the selectors, but what would they do when Pandya gets fit and both are to be picked in the squad? Well, for now, that matter is at least three months away.
The fans were elated to see both the superstar players back in the T20I mold. They last played a T20I in the semi-final loss to England in Adelaide in T20 World Cup 2022.
Apart from Hardik, Suryakumar Yadav, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Mohammed Shami are injured, while KL Rahul is dropped. Another talking point is that Ravindra Jadeja is not selected. It is not known whether Jadeja, who was the vice-captain in the T20I series in South Africa, is rested or dropped.
🚨 NEWS 🚨#TeamIndia’s squad for @IDFCFIRSTBank T20I series against Afghanistan announced 🔽
Rohit Sharma (C), S Gill, Y Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, W Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav,…
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 7, 2024
The fans let their opinion know about the recall of both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli on Twitter through tweets and some memes as well.
Twitter reactions and memes as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli return for Afghanistan T20I series:
Ishan Kishan is also not included while Sanju Samson and Jitesh Sharma are the wicket-keepers in this squad. It seems that the selectors don’t have confidence in Kishan as a middle-order batter, and hence have gone with Samson and Jitesh.
India’s T20I squad vs Afghanistan:
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar
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