ICC T20 World Cup: Pant returns as Rohit to lead India, Pandya named vice captain

Rishabh Pant and Yuzvendra Chahal return to the team while KL Rahul misses out.

India have included wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant in their 15-man squad for the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States in June, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Tuesday.

India will be led by Rohit Sharma as they bid for a second title in the June 1-29 tournament following their triumph in the inaugural edition in 2007.

Hardik Pandya has been named as the vice captain of the squad.

Pant was involved in a near-fatal crash in December 2022 that required him to have multiple surgeries and he missed last year's Indian Premier League (IPL) as well as India's 50-overs World Cup campaign on home soil.

The 26-year-old has slowly returned to his best after his comeback in this year's IPL, scoring three fifties and racking up 398 runs in 11 matches to convince selectors.

The Delhi Capitals skipper was not the only player rewarded for his IPL form, as Chennai Super Kings batsman Shivam Dube also made the squad after scoring 350 runs in nine matches.

Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan were among the reserves, but there was no place for wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul.

They made the semi-finals two years ago in Australia, losing to eventual champions England.

India begin their campaign against Ireland in Group A, with the match to be played in New York on June 5.

Squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.