Shahbaz Ahmed earns maiden T20I call-up for India

After days of speculation, it has been finally confirmed that Team India has resorted to a string of changes for varying purposes to the squad that will play against South Africa for the T20I series.

RCB all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed bagged his maiden T20I call-up to the Indian squad as he still looks for a place in the playing XI. This is going to be his second stint with the national team after the first call-up came against Zimbabwe for the three-match ODI series.

The summoning comes on the back of some impressive showing in the Duleep Trophy and the recently concluded New Zealand A’s tour of India where the southpaw put in staunch shifts both with the bat and the ball.

A big name that was hoping to be tested ahead of the showpiece event, Deepak Hooda, was ruled out of the series with back spasms and Shreyas Iyer was drafted as a replacement for the all-rounder.

Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were also ruled out of the series as BCCI confirmed that the duo will be performing some conditioning-related work at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. Hooda has also joined the duo at NCA for further management of his injury.

It is believed that Deepak Hooda picked up his injury during a training session against Australia that hampered his back, following which the management was forced to withdraw him from the imminent action in the upcoming South Africa series.

Arshdeep Singh who wasn’t a part of the Australian tour has connected with Team India at Thiruvananthapuram for the curtain-raiser of the South African fray. Mohammed Shami who was supposed to be a part of the Indian squad against South Africa still hasn't recovered from COVID and Umesh Yadav will be replacing him as he did for the Australian bilateral affair.