India captain Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni were rested from India's squad for the Nidahas Trophy, which is scheduled to begin on March 6, 2018. Rohit Sharma has been named as the stand-in captain; Shikhar Dhawan too got a promotion and will be the vice-captain of India’s 15-man squad. The tri-nation series will involve Bangladesh and Sri Lanka too, with all the matches being played in the Lankan nation.

India’s limited over specialists Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya were all rested for the triangular series. The Indian selection committee, led by chief selector MSK Prasad, rested key players citing enormous workload on the back of successful South Africa tour and India’s future schedule. After a tiring Test series in South Africa, India bounced back in both, One Day Internationals (ODI), and T20I series and won them comprehensively. India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh T20I Series: Complete Fixtures, Schedule, Timetable and Venue of Nidahas Trophy 2018

Several new faces were included in the side as India will be playing without their six first-choice players. New inclusions in the squad announced are Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar, Washington Sundar, Rishabh Pant, and Mohammad Siraj. All the players have been selected for their consistent performances in the domestic circuit.

Full India squad for Nidahas Trophy 2018:

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan (Vice-Captain), KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammad Siraj, and Rishabh Pant.

India will miss the stability provided by Captain Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni in the middle order. However, team India will be able to test its bench strength in this low-key T20I series. The Nidahas Trophy will see India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh play each other twice in the tournament with the top 2 teams heading to play the final on March 18.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 26, 2018 05:04 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).