Gill, who leads India in test matches and one-day internationals, sustained a neck injury last month during India's opening test against South Africa. He missed the remainder of the two-test series as well as the following ODI series.

The 26-year-old, having appeared in 33 T20 games for India, must obtain fitness approval from the BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, where he is currently recovering.

Pandya proved his fitness by returning to domestic cricket on Tuesday, scoring 77 runs off 42 balls to lead Baroda to a seven-wicket victory over Punjab in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Rinku Singh and Nitish Kumar, who were part of India’s T20 squad during the Australia tour in October-November, have been excluded from the 15-member squad.

The five-match T20 series will start on December 9 in Cuttack and finish in Ahmedabad ten days later.

India squad

Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma, Sanju Samson, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar.