MUMBAI: India added pace bowler Shardul Thakur to their Twenty20 World Cup squad while all-rounder Axar Patel dropped out of the 15-man side and into a list of stand-by players, the country’s cricket board (BCCI) said in a statement on Wednesday.

Inaugural T20 World Cup champions India begin their bid for a second title in a Super 12 match in Dubai against arch-rivals Pakistan on Oct 24.

The tournament was scheduled to be held in India but the Covid-19 situation in the country forced organisers to shift it to the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

Revised squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), K.L. Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami.

Travelling reserves: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Axar Patel.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2021