The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed Suryakumar Yadav as India’s captain for the five-match T20I series against Australia, which begins on November 23, Thursday at VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam. Young opener Ruturaj Gaikwad has been named vice-captain for the series against the newly-crowned ODI champions, as the hosts only selected three players from the World Cup squad namely Prasidh Krishna, Ishan Kishan, and Suryakumar.

Shreyas Iyer, on the other hand, will join the squad for the final two T20Is and will take over as vice-captain in those games. Suryakumar, the No.1 batter in T20Is, will be leading India for the first time. Suryakumar has a chance to shine because ace all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who suffered an injury during the World Cup, is unlikely to return to action in the coming months.

Axar Patel, an all-rounder, has also been called up to the squad after missing the ODI World Cup due to a left quadriceps injury. The left-arm batter returned to competitive cricket last month and played for Gujarat in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. However, a few players namely Riyan Parag, Abhishek Sharma, and veteran pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar failed to find their spot in the squad even after performing well in Domestic cricket.

And to everyone’s shock, this time too the Selectors were so hard on Sanju Samson as the Kerala senior batter was a notable absentee. Samson will look to prove himself in the upcoming Vijay Hazare one-day tournament. Former India batter VVS Laxman will be the Head coach of the Indian team for the series.