Seamer Mohammed Shami returns to Indian team after 14 months for T20 series against England

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Nearly 14 months after his last international appearance, veteran seamer Mohammed Shami made his return to the Indian team on Saturday for the upcoming five-match T20I series against visiting England.

The 34-year-old Shami's last outing for India was the 2023 ODI World Cup final against Australia at Ahmedabad on November 19, after which he was out of the team for a long time due to an ankle injury for which he underwent surgery last year. A swelling on his knee then prevented Shami from joing the Indian team for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, leaving Jasprit Bumrah to shoulder the bulk of the pace bowling load.

Suryakumar Yadav will captain the 15-member squad for the series, which begins in Kolkata on January 22.

Team for the series: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel (Vice-Captain), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper).