Bumrah, Dhawan back for limited-overs series against Sri Lanka and Australia

Bumrah has returned to competitive cricket after four months, while Rohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami have been rested for the T20s.

Bumrah was laid low for four months because of a stress fracture.

Jasprit Bumrah returns to the Indian team for the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka (T20) and Australia in January. In-form opener and vice-captain Rohit Sharma has been rested for the T20 series against Sri Lanka. Shikhar Dhawan finds a place in both the teams while Mohammad Shami will not figure in the T20 series against Sri Lanka.

India will meet Sri Lanka in three T20Is from January 5 and Australia in three ODIs from January 14.

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Bumrah had suffered a stress fracture and is reportedly fit enough to test his recovery in Gujarat’s forthcoming Ranji Trophy match. According to selection committee chairman MSK Prasad, “Sanju Samson will be the back-up opener in the T20 series. Against Australia, we have all three openers in the team – Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul.”

Seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar went out of reckoning on account of injuries. “Deepak was doing well as he played the Vijay Hazare Trophy but aggravated his back injury in the second ODI in Visakhapatnam,” Prasad added.

On the availability of all-rounder Hardik Pandey, the chief selector said they would test him in the third week of January for a possible comeback in the series against New Zealand from January 24.

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Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, who will be the 16th member for the ODI series against Australia, and Khaleel Ahmed will continue to be in the scheme of things for the season.

The Squads: India Squad (T20Is against Sri Lanka): Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Manish Pandey, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson. India Squad (ODI vs Australia): Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami.