Suryakumar Yadav to Lead as BCCI Announce Squad for Australia T20Is, Venues Changed For Last 2 Games

Suryakumar Yadav is set to lead Team India as the BCCI on Monday announced a 15-member squad for the five-match T20I series against Australia. The series begins on November 23 in Vizag with the following games to be played in Thiruvananthapuram (Nov 26) and Guwahati (Nov 28). The last two games of the series, which were initially scheduled to be held in Nagpur (on Dec 1) and Hyderabad (on Dec 3) have been moved to Raipur and Bengaluru, respectively. Earlier, News18 CricketNext reported earlier about the venue changes on Sunday.

Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh (CSCS) spokesperson Rajesh Dave confirmed to News18 CricketNext on Sunday that the India vs Australia 4^th T20I will be played in Raipur on the given date.

“It’s final. We have received the confirmation from the BCCI via e-mail and have initiated preparations to host the game on December 1,” Dave told CricketNext.

The fifth T20I, originally scheduled at Hyderabad, would be moved to Bengaluru due to Assembly Elections in Telangana.

Shreyas Iyer, who was part of the ODI World Cup squad, will join the team as vice-captain for the last two T20Is in Raipur and Bengaluru.

Meanwhile, Ruturaj Gaikwad will act as Surya’s deputy in the first three matches of the tournament.

The selectors have picked several young talents including Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Washington Sundar and others who were also part of the Asian Games squad.

India’s squad for Australia T20Is: Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dubey, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar

Hardik Pandya unavailable

Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who has been leading the side in the shortest format lately, will require more time to recover from his left ankle ligament tear. The team will be leaving for South Africa after hosting the Aussies and a more practical scenario for Hardik would be to get fit by the time the T20 series against the Proteas begins from December 10 in Durban.