Vice-Captain Rohit Sharma on Sunday returned to India’s 16-member T20I squad for the tour of New Zealand (NZ) as the selectors dropped Kerala batsman Sanju Samson.

The five-man selection panel also brought back pacer Mohammed Shami, who like Rohit, was rested for the T20I series against Sri Lanka.

Wicket-keeper batsman Samson had played the third T20I against Sri Lanka in Pune, scoring six runs. There were no major surprises with most of the players picking themselves.

The five-match T20I series against New Zealand will begin on Jan. 24 in Auckland.

The selection committee under outgoing Chairman MSK Prasad kept the ODI and Test squads on hold for the time being.

India’s T20I squad for NZ tour: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (VC), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur.