Shreyas Iyer to lead India against Afghanistan in T20Is
Bumrah is back, subject to fitness. Hardik Pandya misses out. Delhi hosts all three games.
The BCCI announced India's 15-member squad for the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan. Shreyas Iyer stays captain. Tilak Varma is vice-captain.
Jasprit Bumrah returns to the T20I group after missing recent white-ball series, though his place is marked subject to fitness clearance. Sanju Samson is back behind the stumps alongside Ishan Kishan. Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, and Harshit Rana are also listed with fitness notes.
Hardik Pandya is not in the squad after a fresh setback in his comeback. Teenage batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi keeps his place after the Zimbabwe series.
Full squad named by the board: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana.
All three matches are in Delhi at Arun Jaitley Stadium: 13, 15, and 17 September.
India is shifting from a developmental Zimbabwe group back toward a more familiar T20I core, with Bumrah as the headline return if he is cleared.
Iyer keeping the captaincy matters for how the short-format leadership settles after the World Cup cycle. Pandya's absence leaves a hole in finishing and bowling options that the selectors are not papering over with a rushed recall.
Fitness clearances for Bumrah and the other starred names come first. Then Delhi, mid-September, against Afghanistan's spin-heavy attack on a home pitch.