The Indian team released its squad for the T20 match against England. Shami returns and Axar Patel becomes vice-captain.

 Apart from Shami's return, the appointment of Axar Patel as the vice-captain is the major talking point in the squad. Axar's elevation comes in spite of Hardik Pandya's presence in the squad. Hardik was India's captain in the shortest format leading up to the T20 World Cup last year before which Rohit Sharma took over the reins again. However, post the tournament, the selectors opted to hand over the leadership duties to Suryakumar Yadav. While there was no designated vice-captain during India's recent T20I assignment in South Africa, Axar has now been named Suryakumar's deputy even though Hardik continues to lead Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.

Once again, there is no place for Rishabh Pant who hasn't played a T20I since July 2024 with the selectors opting for Dhruv Jurel as the second-choice keeper. Sanju Samson continues to be the frontline keeper-batter option and is expected to continue at the top of the order alongside Abhishek Sharma considering Yashasvi Jaiswal's absence.

Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana and Washington Sundar are back in the setup after missing the South Africa tour owing to their participation in the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. Ramandeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal and Jitesh Sharma have made way for the five inclusions.

The five-match series kicks off on January 22 in Kolkata with the next four games scheduled to be held in Chennai, Rajkot, Pune and Mumbai. The teams will then clash in a three-match ODI series prior to the Champions Trophy.