'Feeling is surreal,' Suryakumar Yadav expresses joy after maiden India call-up for T20I series vs England

Mumbai cricketer Suryakumar Yadav expressed his "surreal feeling" after he earned his maiden India call-up for the Twenty20 International (T20I) series against England. It was a long due call-up since Suryakumar has been a consistent performer in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and domestic circuit.

Suryakumar took to Twitter to express his joy after getting an India call-up. "The feeling is surreal," the Mumbai Indians (MI) batsman tweeted along with his photo.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India's 19-man squad for the five-match T20I series against England, starting March 12 in Ahmedabad. All the matches will be played at the Sardar Patel Stadium, which is also set to host the third and fourth Test between the two sides. At present, the four-match Test series is levelled at 1-1. The third Test is scheduled to begin on Feb. 24, which is going to be a pink ball game.

Along with Suryakumar, his MI teammate Ishan Kishan and Rajasthan Royals (RR) all-rounder Rahul Tewatia also received maiden call-ups.

At the 2020 edition of the IPL, where MI won their record fifth title, Suryakumar was one of the vital members of the squad, scoring 480 runs in 16 matches at an average of 40. Meanwhile, MI's middle-order batsman Ishan finished the tournament as the top scorer among the uncapped players with 516 runs in just 13 innings, with 99 being his highest that he had scored against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Tewatia, on the other hand, scored 255 runs in 11 innings at an average of 42.50, while he also picked 10 wickets, with 3 for 25 being his best performance.

MI skipper Rohit Sharma, who missed the whole limited-overs leg in Australia, is back as Virat Kohli's deputy. While Jasprit Bumrah has been rested, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who missed a significant part of the IPL due to a thigh injury, returns to the national team. Manish Pandey and Ravindra Jadeja, Sanju Samson, and Mayank Agarwal - all part of the T20I squad that toured Australia - have missed out. Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav has also not been picked.

Following the underway Test series, India and England will lock horns in a five-match T20I series before both the teams head to Pune for a three-match One-Day International (ODI) series. All the ODIs will be played at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium.

India's 19-man squad for the T20I series vs England: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur.