T20 World Cup: MS Dhoni to mentor India squad, Ashwin makes the cut; Twitter goes in celebration mode

The BCCI (The Board of Control for Cricket in India) on Wednesday surprised everyone when it announced that former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be mentoring the India's squad picked for the T20 World Cup. This will be MS Dhoni's first official involvement with the senior team since his retirement from international cricket in 2020.

"Former India Captain M S Dhoni to mentor the team for the T20 World Cup," announced BCCI secretary Jay Shah at a press conference.

Dhoni will work with India team head coach Ravi Shastri during the world cup.


Well, this isn't it. In another surprise, the BCCI recalled senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who was excluded from last few matches. This is Ashwin's return to India's white-ball team after four years.

It'll be a 15-player squad including specialist batters, all-rounders, fast bowlers and specialist spinners. Led by captain Virat Kohli with Rohit Sharma as the vice-captain, the squad is missing opener Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw who couldn't make the cut.

With the news of icon Dhoni returning as mentor and Ashwin making it to the team, cricket fans all across the country are in absolute celebration mode and continue to set the Twitter on fire.

For Indian commentator Harsha Bhogle, Ashwin being recalled in the team was the biggest takeaway from the BCCI announcement. "No other spinner turns the ball away from left handers. No Chahal means a big vote of confidence in Rahul Chahar. Bit hard on Shreyas Iyer," he said.


Here are some epic reactions from Twitter. Take a look.


Players who made the cut:
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami.

Players on standby:
Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar.