Negi, Shami included for T20 WC and Asia Cup

The Asia Cup begins on February 24 in Bangladesh while the T20 WC kicks off on March 08 in India.

Asia Cup and T20 WC Squad: MS Dhoni (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Pawan Negi, Mohammad Shami

Yuvraj Singh Back to Team

Pawan Negi and injured Mohammad Shami were included the India squads announced, on Friday (February 5), for the upcoming Asia Cup and ICC World Twenty20.

The meeting was attended by the national selectors along with MS Dhoni, team captain, and Anurag Thakur, secretary of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

India have announced the same squad for both the tournaments and Sandeep Patil, head of the national selection panel, was of the view that this was the best squad picked given the conditions that the tournament will be played in.

"We always give importance to domestic performances. Horses for courses has worked well, looking at the IPL and other domestic T20 tournaments," said Patil to the media in Delhi. Patil stressed that the recent performances in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy were given importance.

A couple of players who might feel hard done by after being left out include Manish Pandey and Amit Mishra but Patil insisted that they were amongst the names discussed

"Manish has done exceptionally well for us recently and he's the future. His name was certainly discussed," said Patil.

"We have full respect for what Amit Mishra has done but emotions can't dictate selections," he added, "We discussed him and many other names. The selectors and the captain felt this was the best combination we could have gone with."

Patil also backed Harbhajan Singh and Negi to be the right men for the slots available. Shami, he said, had recovered and added that there was a full month to assess the pacer's fitness.

The Asia Cup begins on February 24 in Bangladesh while the World T20 kicks off on March 08 in India.

Asia Cup and World T20 Squad: MS Dhoni (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Pawan Negi, Mohammad Shami

He is the best player for this t20 world cup