The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday announced the Indian squad for the Asia Cup 2016 and the ICC T20I World Cup 2016. BCCI Secretary, Anurag Thakur revealed the squad for both the tournaments in a press conference. The squad for both tournaments are the same as the BCCI is looking to give the team a chance to bond before the World T20I 2016.
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The Asia Cup, which was traditionally played in the 50-over format, will be played as a T20I tournament in lieu of the World T20 that will follow the Asia Cup.
Pawan Negi, who was a surprise inclusion in the T20I squad for the Sri Lanka series, was picked up for the Asia Cup and the World T20. Mohammad Shami, who has been battling a hamstring injury, has also been included in the squad.
Manish Pandey, who had a good ending to the ODI series against Australia, was not picked for either squad and might feel hard done by to miss out after putting in a good performance.
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Two of India's frontline bowlers in the last one year, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav were dropped from the squads for the two upcoming tournaments. Ajinkya Rahane, who missed out on the T20I series in Australia, also makes his way back into the squad, adding depth to Indian batting.
The inclusion of Negi is probably an indication of how the Indian pitches might help spin and having an extra spinner in the squad would give Dhoni another option to go to.
MS Dhoni will know very well as to how to make use of Negi's abilities as he has captained the Delhiite at Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Many people expect this to be the last two international tournaments for Dhoni, however, one thing that is for certain is that the Indian captain will look to sign off on a high and try to win both the tournaments.
With the inclusion of older players like Ashish Nehra, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh, India will be banking on their experience to overcome any challenges they might face in their pursuit to claiming the World T20 crown once again.
Indian T20I squad (Asia Cup 2016 and ICC World T20 2016): MS Dhoni (C &Wk), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Pawan Negi, Mohammad Shami.
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