Pant missed out on the three-match series against Australia in 2020, but has shone for India in red-ball cricket in 2021 and will get a chance to pick up his first T20I cap since January 2020.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has also earned a recall to the side for the first time since 2019, while T Natarajan who was part of the squad in Australia, has been retained. Also included is Varun Chakravarthy, who was initially going to debut in Australia but was missed out with a shoulder injury.

The 19-man squad, captained by Virat Kohli, features three uncapped players, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Rahul Tewatia.

Yadav and Kishan both impressed in the Indian Premier League last year, with Kishan's call-up coming on the same day he smashed 173 for Jharkhand in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Jasprit Bumrah is the biggest name missing from the squad, with the seamer being rested after the ongoing Test series

The first match in Ahmedabad will take place on 12 March.

Squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur