Afghanistan T20Is: Rohit Sharma to lead India; Virat Kohli, Sanju Samson return

(FILE) Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli

The BCCI on Sunday announced the Indian squad for the T20I series against Afghanistan. Veteran Rohit Sharma returned to the fold to lead the side alongside Virat Kohli while Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya missed out. 

Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson and Jitesh Shamra were named as the wicketkeepers in the squad also included the latest sensations Rinku Singh, Mukesh Kumar and Tilak Varma.

India's semifinal defeat to England in the T20I World Cup on November 10 was the last appearance of both Kohli and Sharma in the game's shortest format.

Hardik Pandya's own injury in the ODI World Cup along and more recently, Suryakumar Yadav's ligament tear, resulted in a lot of inexperience at the top of the order. On Saturday, Afghanistan had named its 19-member squad for the three T20 Internationals starting on January 11 in Mohali. Youngster Ibrahim Zadran was named the skipper of the squad by the Afghanistan Cricket Board. He had recently led Afghanistan to a 2-1 series victory against the UAE in Sharjah.

Team India squad: 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, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar