Shardul Thakur who was earlier in the reserves has been drafted into the main squad in place of Axar Patel. The BCCI has made a last minute-change to India’s final squad keeping the playing conditions and the combinations in mind. Thakur has been bowling consistently well for CSK and has been rewarded for the same. 

The qualifiers start from October 17 while the Super 12 stage starts from October 23. India take on Pakistan in their first game on October 24. India are pitted alongside Pakistan, New Zealand and Afghanistan in group 2. 

BCCI Drafts In Shardul Thakur Into Main Squad

Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Chahar continue to be in the list of reserve players while Thakur has been included in the main squad. There are also a few players who will be joining the Indian team as net bowlers. 

Avesh Khan, Umran Malik, Harshal Patel, Lukman Meriwala, Venkatesh Iyer, Karn Sharma, Shahbaz Ahmed and K. Gowtham will all stay back in the UAE and help the Indian team with their preparations. 

India’s squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami

Stand-by players: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Axar Patel

Team India will play two warm-up games ahead of the start of their T20 World Cup campaign. They play against Australia on October 18 and against South Africa on October 20. India were the champions of the inaugural T20 World Cup back in 2007. They then made the final in 2014 and the semi-final in 2016. 

India’s complete schedule for the ICC T20 World Cup 2021:

24th October 2021: India vs Pakistan, 7:30 PM, Dubai

31st October 2021 India vs New Zealand, 7:30 PM, Dubai

3rd November 2021 India vs Afghanistan, 7:30 PM, Abu Dhabi

5th November 2021 India vs B1, 7:30 PM, Dubai

8th November 2021 India vs A2, 7:30 PM Dubai

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