The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday pulled off an unexpected move by convincing a reticent Mahendra Singh Dhoni to become the national team's mentor for the T20 World Cup while bringing back senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin from his white-ball wilderness, along with Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Axar Patel and Varun Chakravarthy. Ashwin (34) last played white-ball cricket for India in 2017. Kishan and Chakravarthy have been rewarded for their consistent performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the few opportunities they got with the Indian team. The T20 World Cup starts on October 17 in the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Rohit Sharma (Vice-Captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami will play with the others under the captaincy of Virat Kohli. Additionally, Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar have been named as standby players. The BCCI, in a surprising move, also announced that former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be mentoring the 15-member team ahead of the World Cup. "Former India Captain MS Dhoni to mentor the team for the T20 World Cup," announced BCCI secretary Jay Shah in a press conference to unveil the squad for the event.
"(I) spoke to him in Dubai. He agreed to be the mentor for WT20 only and I discussed it with my colleagues and we all are on the same page. I spoke to captain (Virat Kohli) and vice-captain (Rohit Sharma) and everyone agreed," he added. It is believed that he has been brought in for his experience in devising white-ball strategy and for also knowing how to win crucial ICC tournaments which have not been the case with his successor.
One of the most successful captains in the history of Indian cricket, the enigmatic wicketkeeper-batsman led India to two world titles — the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa and the 2011 ODI World Cup in India. The ICC has limited the strength of the squad to 30 — including support staff — amid the COVID-19 pandemic.