Ashwin roped in, Dhoni announced as team mentor: Men In Blue Squad announcement for ICC World Cup T20

Alas! The wait is finally over as the BCCI on Wednesday announced India’s squad for ICC World cup T20 2021 that happens to take place from October 17. During the press conference, BCCI secretary Jay Shah revealed that he had spoken to Dhoni and as far as Dhoni is concerned, He agreed to be a mentor and his role will be limited to T20 only. “I discussed it with my colleagues and all are on the same page. I spoke to captain (Virat Kohli) and vice captain (Rohit Sharma) and everyone agreed,” expressed shah.

Among the notable absentees were Dhawan, Chahal and Yadav that has raised a few eyebrows among fans. At the same time, the biggest surprise was Ashwin being roped in who last played a T20 back in 2017. The bowling department has Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar with Pandya likely to appear as the fourth seamer. In addition to that, all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel also earned a spot in the squad along with spinner Varun Chakravarthy. Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur are being named in the standbys list. 

ICC has allowed 7 extra members in a squad due to Covid restrictions. India appears in Group 2 of the Super 12 phase along with other teams. The first match of India is scheduled on October 24th with arch-rivals Pakistan. Now let’s wait to witness the unveiling of the grand show.