Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli return to India's T20I squad for Afghanistan series

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli on Sunday made a highprofile comeback to Indias T20 squad for the IND vs AFG T20I series with the former also named captain for the series beginning in Mohali on January 11Rohit and Kohli last appeared in a T20 for India in the World Cup semifinal against England in November 2022Back then the two veterans along with KL Rahul were seen to be playing archaic cricket in the powerplay and the team needed to move on from that approach with Hardik Pandya earmarked as the new T20 skipperHowever Pandyas own injury in the ODI World Cup along and more recently Suryakumar Yadavs ligament tear resulted in a lot of inexperience at the top of the orderPTI had reported last week that the Ajit Agarkarled selection panel was set to pick the celebrated duo for the Afghanistan seriesDecisions on Rohit and Virat cant solely be taken by the selection committee There is a lot at stake broadcasters sponsors and you cant pick one and drop the other Ajit and his team needed to maintain a status quo a former India selector told PTI on conditions of anonymityWhile Rohits chances of leading India in the T20 World Cup has considerably brightened the development comes across as a big blow to Hardiks captaincy ambitions at the global event in JuneHowever he has replaced Rohit Sharma as Mumbai Indians skipper for IPL 2024Also ReadThe T20 squad also features Sanju Samson and Jitesh Sharma who will be the two glovesmen with Ishan Kishan being ignored for the shortest formatIshan wasnt happy that he was travelling without much game time He is on a break right now and is vacationing In any case selectors are in all likelihood are looking beyond KishanIt will be interesting if he is picked for England Test series where KS Bharat will be back behind the stumps a BCCI source saidJasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja the two Test team certainties have been rested and Ruturaj Gaikwad isnt fit to play yetAllrounder Shivam Dube has also been named in the squad in Hardiks absenceThe Afghanistan series will be Indias last before the World Cup which takes place right after the IPLFormer South Africa captain Graeme Smith reckons leaving out the likes of Rohit and Kohli from any team is extremely toughI wouldnt want to be a selector Its a very tough decision to leave out two players who have been incredible Virat always comes back incredibly well With the amount of talent that India has now it is a difficult choice to make said Smith on the sidelines of an interaction organised ahead of SA20IND vs AFG T20I series Indian squad at a glanceRohit Sharma Captain Shubman Gill Yashasvi Jaiswal Virat Kohli Tilak Varma Rinku Singh Jitesh Sharma wk Sanju Samson wk Shivam Dube Washington Sundar Axar Patel Ravi Bishnoi Kuldeep Yadav Arshdeep Singh Avesh Khan Mukesh KumarWith agency inputs