However, there was no room for Sanju Samson and Shahbaz Ahmed, who were part of the squad for the Ireland T20Is in August. Riyan Parag, who almost singlehandedly carried Assam to the semi-final of the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali, and Abhishek Sharma, the Player of the Tournament, could not find a place either.

Apart from Axar, Washington Sundar is the other allrounder. Shivam Dube, too, is in the mix, but he has bowled only sporadically of late, sending down just four overs in eight games in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Ravi Bishnoi is the only wristspinner in the squad.

This is the first time Suryakumar will be leading India. Previously, he has led Mumbai in 36 matches across formats in domestic cricket. Earlier this year, he also led Mumbai Indians against Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL.

The series will start just four days after India lost to Australia in the ODI World Cup final in Ahmedabad. But with the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA roughly six months away, the focus will now shift to T20Is.

The first match of the series will be played in Visakhapatnam before the caravan moves to Thiruvananthapuram (November 26), Guwahati (November 28), Raipur (December 1), and Bengaluru (December 3). VVS Laxman will be India's coach as Rahul Dravid has been given a break.

India's squad for Australia T20Is: Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-capt), Ishan Kishan (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Shreyas Iyer (vice-capt, available only for last two T20Is)