Hardik Pandya returns to India squad for T20I series against Proteas

The allrounder made a successful return to action this week in India's domestic T20 competition, bowling four overs for 51 and then smashing 77 not out off 42 balls.

India's T20I vice-captain Shubman Gill, who has been recovering from a neck injury he sustained in the first Test in Kolkata, was also named in the squad but will undergo more testing before the series that starts on 9 December.

Batter Rinku Singh and allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy have been dropped from the group that toured Australia last month.

Jasprit Bumrah will lead the fast-bowling attack and will be supported by Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana with Pandya in the mix with his seamers.

Axar Patel and Washington Sundar are the spin-allrounders while Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav are the frontline slow-bowlers.

India T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar

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