India's Rishabh Pant attends a practice session at the Green Park Cricket Stadium in Kanpur on September 25, 2024, ahead of their second cricket Test match against Bangladesh. (Photo by Money SHARMA / AFP)
New Delhi: India star keeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been rested for a three-match T20 series against Bangladesh, starting Oct. 6 in Guwahati, India.
Pant, who returned to test cricket after 21 months with a blistering century in Chennai, has been given time off ahead of a three test series against New Zealand later in October.
Test regulars Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj and Khaleel Ahmed have also been left out of the T20 squad ahead of the New Zealand series. They were all part of India’s new-look T20 team under skipper Suryakumar Yadav in Sri Lanka.
Pacer Mayank Yadav, who impressed in last season's Indian Premier League for Lucknow Super Giants, has been called-up. India coach Gautam Gambhir was the Giants’ mentor when Yadav made his mark with seven wickets in four matches for Lucknow.
All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who also grabbed headlines for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, has been selected after missing out the Zimbabwe T20 series because of injury.
Left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma, who scored a maiden T20 hundred against Zimbabwe, returns to the squad after missing out on the Sri Lanka tour.
Spinner Varun Chakravarthy gets a first call-up since the Twenty20 World Cup in 2021. Pacer Harshit Rana and keeper-batter Jitesh Sharma are also in the squad.
Sanju Samson, who was part of India’s 2024 T20 World Cup winning squad, will be the first-choice keeper-batter in Pant's absence.
The three T20s will be played on Oct. 6, 9 and 12, in Guwahati, Delhi and Hyderabad, respectively.
