India Team for the World T20 2016 announced: BCCI announced on Friday the India team for the upcoming Asia Cup this month and the World T20 in March. National selectors, MS Dhoni and Anurag Thakur attended the meet before the final announcement.

India seam sensation, Mohammed Shami is back for the World T20 but will miss the Asia Cup for sure as is still undergoing issues related to fitness. He earlier came back from Australia tour with a hamstring injury to make way for the emerging Jasprit Bumrah. Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has failed to find a place in the 15-member squad.

Batting spearhead, Virat Kohli will join the side for the Asia Cup after a time-off during the Sri Lanka series. Manish Pandey will make way for him after playing in the T20I series against Sri Lanka.

Uncapped left-arm spinner, Pawan Negi is a surprise inclusion to the side who is in all three squads – Sri Lanka series from Feb 9, Asia Cup from Feb 24 and the World T20 from March 15. He will be having an immense opportunity to make it count for his country.

Arguably, left-arm seamer, Irfan Pathan have been hard done after he left a strong impression in the domestic league of shorter formats.

MS Dhoni will lead the formidable side without any surprise after being the skipper in all 5 previous editions of the World T20.

Chief selector Sandeep Patil said: “We always give importance to domestic performances. Horses for courses have worked well. Looking at the IPL and other domestic T20 tournaments.”

India Squad for Asia Cup and World T20: MS Dhoni (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Pawan Negi, Mohammad Shami