The BCCI on Wednesday named the Indian men's team for the 2021 Men's ICC World Cup in Oman and UAE.
The team will be mentored by former captain MS Dhoni and led by Virat Kohli with Ravi Shastri as the coach.
Experienced players Shikhar Dhawan, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have been left out. Washington Sundar misses out due to injury while Shreyas Iyer is among the reserves.
India will will open their campaign in a blockbuster encounter against Pakistan in Dubai on 24 October. Apart from the arch-rivals, India have been grouped with Afghanistan and New Zealand in Group 2, as well as two sides who progress from Round 1 of the tournament, beginning on 17 October.
"Mr Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be joining Team India as mentor for the upcoming T20 World Cup. I am glad that MS has accepted BCCI's offer and he is keen to contribute to the national team once again. MS will work closely with Mr Ravi Shastri as well as other support staff to provide support and direction to Team India," said Jay Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to the media in a virtual interaction.
India squad:
Virat Kohli (captain),
Rohit Sharma (vice-captain),
K.L. Rahul,
Suryakumar Yadav,
Rishabh Pant (wk),
Hardik Pandya,
Ravindra Jadeja,
Jasprit Bumrah,
Bhuvneshwar Kumar,
Mohammed Shami,
R Ashwin,
Axar Patel,
Ishan Kishan,
Rahul Chahar
Varun Chakravarthy.
Standbyes: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur.