Four years after he was discarded from India‘s T20I set-up, R Ashwin has forced his way back in, named in the squad of 15 for the 2021 T20 World Cup. In another surprise move, the BCCI has roped in former captain MS Dhoni as the team mentor specifically for this tournament. Dhoni, who retired from international cricket last August, was appointed to “provide support and direction” to the Indian team management led by head coach Ravi Shastri. So said BCCI secretary Jay Shah.

The main group of 15 comprises six specialist batters, three allrounders, three specialist spinners and three specialist fast bowlers. The selection panel led by former India fast bowler Chetan Sharma also named the trio of Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur as reserves, who will act as injury or Covid-19 replacements.

Among the notable absentees were Shikhar Dhawan, who captained India in their short limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka recently, and lead legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal. Instead, the selectors opted for mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy and legspinner Rahul Chahar, who, along with Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Axar Patel are heading into their the first World Cup.