India vs West Indies 2023: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma earn maiden call-ups as India announces T20I squad

Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma have received their first call-ups to the India T20I squad, while Sanju Samson makes a return as the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel announces the 15-member squad for the upcoming five-match series against the West Indies. The matches will be held in the Caribbean and Florida.

Notably, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are once again excluded from the T20I setup, with Hardik Pandya continuing as the captain and Suryakumar Yadav named as his deputy.

Both Varma and Jaiswal had impressive performances in the 2023 IPL. Jaiswal, the opening batter for Rajasthan Royals, finished as the fifth-highest run-scorer with 625 runs at an average of 43.21 and a strike rate of 181.13, including one century and five fifties. Varma, a middle-order batsman for Mumbai Indians, scored 343 runs at an average of nearly 43, with a strike rate of 164.11.

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Axar Patel, who missed the New Zealand T20Is for personal reasons, makes a comeback to the team and is one of the four spinners in the squad, along with three wrist spinners. Avesh Khan also returns to the side after his last T20I appearance for India in August 2022 during the Asia Cup.

Rahul Tripathi, Prithvi Shaw, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, and Shivam Mavi, who were part of the T20I squad in the series against New Zealand earlier this year, have been left out for the West Indies series.

The exclusion of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rinku Singh, despite their strong performances in the IPL, came as a surprise. Gaikwad, with 590 runs, was the seventh-highest scorer and the top run-getter for Chennai Super Kings, while KKR's Rinku scored 474 runs at an impressive average of 59.25 and a strike rate of nearly 150.

Following the T20I series, India will play two Tests and three ODIs against the West Indies. The first T20I will be held in Trinidad on August 3, followed by two matches in Guyana on August 6 and 8. The final two games will take place at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground in Lauderhill, Florida on August 12 and 13.

Here is the T20 Squad: 

India's T20I squad: Ishan Kishan (wk), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Surya Kumar Yadav (VC), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya (C), Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.