Former skipper M S Dhoni named mentor of T20 World Cup team, R. Ashwin included in 15-member squad

New Delhi, September 8, 2021

In a significant move, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named former skipper M S Dhoni as a mentor of the 15-member T20 World Cup team which was announced Wednesday evening.

Dhoni will work with team head coach Ravi Shastri and coaching staff, BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a team selection press conference.

"Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be joining Team India as a mentor for the upcoming T20 World Cup. I am glad that MS has accepted BCCI's offer and he is keen to contribute to the national team once again."

"MS will work closely with Ravi Shastri as well as other support staff to provide support and direction to Team India," Shah informed the media in virtual interaction.

The World cup squad announced is on expected lines except that off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has also returned to the T20 squad after four years.

The T20 World Cup is scheduled to begin on October 17 with the qualifying rounds in UAE and Oman in a total of 4 venues — Muscat, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah.

From October 23, the Super 12 round will start, and this will end on November 8. The knock-out round will start on November 10 and the final is slated for November 14.

India kick off their T20 World Cup campaign against Pakistan in group 2 in Dubai on October 24.

Other teams in Group 2 are Afghanistan and New Zealand as well as two sides who progress from Round 1 of the tournament,.

The top two teams in each group of the Super12 stage progress to the semi-finals, with the final set to be played in Dubai on 14 November.

Team: 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, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy.

Standbys: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, and Shardul Thakur.

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