T20 World Cup 2021 | Ashwin in India squad, Dhoni named as mentor

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

The Board of Control for Cricket in India on September 8 announced the 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup, which will begin from October 17 in the UAE and Oman.

Among the key players include 34-year-old senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who has been included in the squad who last played white-ball cricket for India in 2017.  Also, former Indian Cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been appointed as mentor for the team.

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"Former India Captain M S Dhoni to mentor the team for the T20 World Cup," announced BCCI secretary Jay Shah in a press conference to unveil the squad for the event scheduled to start October 17 in the UAE and Oman.

"(I) spoke to him in Dubai. He agreed to be mentor for WT20 only and I discussed with my colleagues and all are on same page. I spoke to captain (Virat Kohli) and vice captain (Rohit Shamra) and everyone agreed," he added. The 40-year-old Dhoni retired from international cricket last year having played his last game in 2019 World Cup semi-final.

Under the leadership of MS Dhoni, India clinched the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa and the 2011 ODI World Cup in India.

India's 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup also include Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel and Varun Chakaravarthy. Kishan and Chakaravarthy have been rewarded for their consistent performance in the IPL and the few opportunities they got with the Indian team.

Squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami.

Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur have been selected as standbye players.

With inputs from agencies.