India vs Australia T20s: Shikhar Dhawan Ashish Nehra picked; Yuvraj, Raina snubbed

Mumbai: Opener Shikhar Dhawan and veteran pacer Ashish Nehra made a comeback to Virat Kohli-led Indian side as the selectors announced squad for the three Twenty20s against Australia.

While Nehra made a comeback, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina were not picked in the squad. Dinesh Karthik, meanwhile, found a place in the squad alongside Manish Pandey, KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav and former India skipper MS Dhoni. The Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper had recently led India Red to Duleep Trophy triumph.

The selectors continued to keep faith in the young trio of spinners – Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel as R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were not picked in the side.

Another notable omission from the squad was that of Ajinkya Rahane, who had scored four consecutive half-centuries in the recently concluded ODI series versus Steve Smith-led unit.

The three-match Twenty20 series will commence in Ranchi on Saturday while Guwahati and Hyderabad will host the second and third T20s respectively on October 10 and October 13.

Squad:

Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Axar Patel.