Former India skipper MS Dhoni, who led India to three International Cricket Council (ICC) titles, has been appointed Indian cricket team mentor for the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman in October-November.
He will work closely with India team head coach Ravi Shastri during the competition, said Indian cricket board secretary Jay Shah during a media interaction at the national capital. Meanwhile, off-spinner R Ashwin has been included in the white-ball cricket after four years. The main squad comprises 15 members while there are three standbyes.
“Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be joining Team India as mentor for the upcoming T20 World Cup. I am glad that he has accepted BCCI’s offer and he is keen to contribute to the national team once again. He will work closely with Ravi Shastri,” said Shah. “I spoke to him (Dhoni) when I was in Dubai. He was okay with the decision and he agreed to be a mentor of Team India for T20 World Cup only and I discussed this issue with my colleagues also. They all are on the same page,” added Shah.
The squad includes only three pace bowlers and as many as five spinners, including the seasoned Ashwin. Chief selector Chetan Sharma said that Ashwin has been picked on the basis of his performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL). “We have three openers. We have Rohit Sharma, K.L. Rahul and then we have got Ishan Kishan, who can bat as an opener and he can fit into middle-order any time. Kishan is giving us option for opening and middle-order. If the need of the hour is that Kohli should open, then they can go with it. As of now, though, there are three openers,” added Sharma.
India squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), K.L. Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy; Standbyes: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur. (Picure: BCCI twitter)
