Mahendra Singh Dhoni to mentor India during T20 World Cup 2021

Former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is set to mentor the Indian team during the upcoming T20 World Cup 2021, scheduled to be played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman between October 17 and November 14. Dhoni, who announced his retirement from international cricket in August last year, last played for India during the 2019 ODI World Cup semi-final against New Zealand and will be in action again during the second leg of the 2021 IPL, which precedes the T20 World Cup.

The Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) announced the 15-member squad for the multi-team tournament, with three additional players included as standbys. The team is set to be led by Virat Kohli, with Rohit Sharma as his deputy, while two wicketkeeping options have been included in Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan. Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav made impressive debuts against England at home earlier this year, and have been included alongside their Mumbai Indians teammates Hardik Pandya and Rahul Chahar.

Apart from Chahar, who has had an impressive couple of IPL seasons in a row, mystery spinner Varun Chakvrarthy and Axar Patel have been included in the 15-member party, alongside off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who last played in limited-overs for India against West Indies in 2017.

The notable absentees from the squad include leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, chinaman Kuldeep Yadav middle-order batter Sanju Samson, all-rounder Krunal Pandya and top-order batters Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan, all of whom were a part of the away series against Sri Lanka during July 2021.

Middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer, all-rounder Shardul Thakur and pacer Deepak Chahar have been named as standbys.

India squad for T20 World Cup 2021: Virat Kohli (Capt), 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, Mohd Shami.

Standby players: Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar.

Team India’s complete schedule ICC T20 World Cup 2021:

24th October 2021: India vs Pakistan, 7:30 PM IST, Dubai

31st October 2021: India vs New Zealand, 7:30 PM IST, Dubai

3rd November 2021: India vs Afghanistan, 7:30 PM IST, Abu Dhabi

5th November 2021: India vs B1 (qualified team), 7:30 PM IST, Dubai

8th November 2021: India vs A2 (qualified team), 7:30 PM IST, Dubai