After a three-year hiatus, the BCCI held its annual awards ceremony. It was during this evening of celebrations on January 12, 2020, that the T20I squad for the upcoming New Zealand trip was finally revealed, though the announcement came much later than originally planned.
Since Hardik Pandya requires further rehabilitation to get back to peak fitness, the selectors have opted to include Tamil Nadu's Vijay Shankar in the squad for the New Zealand tour.
The 15-player roster remains fairly standard, featuring the welcome return of Mohammed Shami and vice-captain Rohit Sharma. India is set to play five T20s in New Zealand between January 24 and February 2, 2020. The national selectors had handed over the final list, which notably left out Pandya, to the BCCI on the evening of January 12.
The chief selector skipped the usual media briefing for two main reasons: the T20 squad was straightforward with no unexpected inclusions, and his own tenure has been extended while the appointment of a new Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) remains pending.
The Indian T20I squad for the New Zealand series consists of: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (Vice-Captain), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (Wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Ravindra Jadeja, and Shardul Thakur.