IND vs AUS: Suryakumar Yadav to lead as India name squad for Australia T20I series

India named a new-look 15-member squad for their upcoming T20I series against Australia.

Suryakumar Yadav has been named as the skipper for the five-match series that will begin on November 23 in Vizag.

Hardik Pandya, who has led the Indian T20I side in recent times, is still recovering from an injury he sustained during the World Cup 2023 campaign and this has opened the door for the Mumbai batter to take on the responsibility of captain.

This will be Suryakumar’s first assignment as the captain of an Indian side. The ICC No.1 batter in T20Is donned the captaincy hat during the IPL 2023 season.

India have also called up young left-hander Rinku Singh, who made his international debut on the tour of Ireland earlier this year. Tilak Varma and Yashavsi Jaiswal also returned to the Indian team.

Shreyas Iyer, who was part of India’s World Cup 2023 side,will be joining the squad after the third T20I and will serve as the vice-captain of the team for the remaining matches. The first two T20Is will see Ruturaj Gaikwad serve as the deputy for Suryakumar.

The series will mark the beginning of India’s preparations for the T20 World Cup to be played next year in the West Indies and United States of America (USA).

India’s first T20I against Australia is on Thursday, November 23 at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam. Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati, Nagpur and Hyderabad will host the other four matches on November 26, 28, December 1 and 3 respectively.

India’s squad: 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, Shreyas Iyer (to join the side for the last two T20Is).