How Rohit Sharma's backing led to R Ashwin's inclusion in Virat Kohli-led India's T20 World Cup squad: Reports

R Ashwin returned to the limited-overs setup after a gap of three years when India announced a 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup on Wednesday (September 8). The Virat Kohli-led Indian side is a good mix of youth and experience but Ashwin's addition surely came as a pleasant surprise as the wily off-spinner wasn't favoured in ODIs and T20Is since 2017.

Washington Sundar's untimely injury, in the run-up to the second leg of IPL 2021, led to Ashwin's name doing the rounds. As per a report in TOI, vice-captain Rohit Sharma had a huge role to play in Ashwin's inclusion in the T20 World Cup squad. Rohit was involved in the team meeting, along with the Kohli-led team management, and voiced his opinion on how Ashwin has been tough to hit in the IPL in recent times.

Following Rohit, Captain Kohli also agreed and called for the inclusion of the off-spinner. In early 2021, Kohli was asked about the Delhi Capitals' (DC) spinner's addition to the limited-overs setup. Back then, the 32-year-old Kohli had mentioned how beneficial Washington Sundar has been for Team India. With his injury, Ashwin was seen as the perfect replacement for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) spin-bowling all-rounder.

Here's a look at India's T20 WC squad, where they will being their campaign on October 24:

India's squad:Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy

Reserves:Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur

India are placed in Group 2, along with Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan and two other teams (who will join from the qualifiers).