NEW DELHI: England’s Jos Buttler will return for the five Twenty20 Internationals in India after being rested for three Tests, as the squad was announced on Thursday by the country’s cricket board.

Buttler ended his Test tour after England won the opening match of the four-Test series in Chennai on Tuesday as part of the team’s rest-and-rotate policy amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Joe Root’s England will begin the second Test in Chennai starting on Saturday and finish off with the final match in Ahmedabad, which is set to begin on March 4.

The touring side, led by England’s white-ball captain Eoin Morgan, will play five T20 matches in Ahmedabad starting on March 12.

Root, who last played a T20 in May 2019, has been kept out of the 16-member squad which includes spinner Adil Rashid and left-arm quick Reece Topley.

England will play three ODIs March 23, 26 and 28 to finish the tour. The ODI squad will be announced at a later date.

Squad: Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, Mark Wood Reserves: Jake Ball, Matt Parkinson.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2021