On Friday night (October 26), the 16-man Indian squad has been announced for the three-match away T20I series against the hosts Australia, starting on November 21. Indian skipper Virat Kohli will lead the squad while the former skipper MS Dhoni has been rested from the entire series.

After completion of the three-match home T20I series against Windies, India will play this three-match away T20I series against the hosts Australia. So, both the squad have been announced on same night along with India’s four-match Test series squad for the Australia tour.

Also read: Ind vs WI: MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli rested for T20I series

Talking about differences in India’s 16-man T20I squad between the Windies series and the Australia series, there is only one change and that is the skipper Virat Kohli has been added for the Australia tour and Shahbaz Nadeem has been dropped out from the squad. Otherwise, both the squads are totally similar.

Indian captain Virat Kohli will lead the T20I side during the Australia tour while Rohit Sharma will be the deputy captain. The experienced wicketkeeper-batsman and the former Indian skipper MS Dhoni again has been dropped out from the T20I squad while Rishabh Pant & Dinesh Karthik both are in the squad as the regular wicketkeeper-batsman.

Also read: Ind vs WI: Kedar Jadhav Comes Back For The Last Two ODIs

While injured Hardik Pandya is still out from the Indian squad, his elder brother Krunal Pandya has retained his place in the T20I squad, who hasn’t made his international debut yet.

Also read: Aus vs Ind: Murali Vijay Returns To The Test Squad, Hardik Pandya Not Fit

The 23-year-old top-order right-handed batsman Shreyas Iyer and the 19-year-old off-spinner Washington Sundar both are in the squad. Meanwhile, the right-arm pacers Siddarth Kaul and Deepak Chahar both have been dropped out, who made their international cricket debuts during the UK tour.

Last time, India played a bilateral T20I series against Australia in Australia in January 2016, where the visitors India whitewashed the hosts in the three-match T20I series (India won by the 3-0 margin).

Full Indian squad for the three-match T20I series against the hosts Australia: Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed.

Full schedule of three-match T20I series on India’s tour of Australia 2018/19

November 21: First T20I – The Gabba (Brisbane)

November 23: Second T20I – Melbourne Cricket Ground (Melbourne)

November 25: Third T20I – Sydney Cricket Ground (Sydney)