Sanju Samson and Jasprit Bumrah have returned to India’s T20I squad for the upcoming three-match series against Afghanistan, while Hardik Pandya remains unavailable.
The BCCI announced the squad for the series, which will be played in Delhi from September 13 to 17. Shreyas Iyer will lead the team, with Tilak Varma named vice-captain.
Samson returns after missing the Zimbabwe series, while Bumrah’s participation will depend on his fitness clearance. Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar and Harshit Rana have also been included, subject to fitness.
Hardik Pandya, however, suffered another setback during his recovery from a leg injury. The all-rounder has not played for India since the T20 World Cup final, and his return timeline remains unclear.
Varun Chakravarthy has also returned after recovering from a hamstring injury.
The squad includes Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi and Arshdeep Singh, giving India a strong mix of experienced and young players for the Afghanistan series.