New York, October 14 (HS). Former captain Steven Taylor has been dropped from the squad for the T20I series against Nepal this weekend, while fast bowler Ali Khan has returned. Taylor, 31, was struggling with poor form in the World Cup and the 50-over series in Netherlands. He was part of the T20I squad in the Netherlands, but was 'rested' before the series after suffering an injury in the ODI series.
Nitish Kumar, who has scored at an average of 13 in his last 7 innings since the World Cup, was also shown the way out. The former Canada captain, who led the team in the T20 World Cup earlier this year, lost his form after an impressive inning of 27 runs against India.
Samit Patel will once again be out of action for six weeks with a back injury, which will also rule him out of the 50-over tri-series after the T20 series.
However, USA will be encouraged by its charismatic fast bowler Ali Khan. The 33-year-old is set to play for the USA team for the first time since the World Cup after skipping the Netherlands tour and being out of action due to a foot injury that forced him to miss the CPL season with the Trinbago Knight Riders.
Aaron Jones has rejoined the team for St Lucia Kings after preferring to play in the CPL with the USA rather than the Namibia tour. It is understood that Jones could be ignored for the Nepal series.
Monank Patel will captain the team after he was rested due to a shoulder injury suffered in the T20 matches in Namibia. Utkarsh Srivastava has retained his place in the team for the third consecutive USA tour. The 17-year-old Srivastava has featured in only one of the 15 matches he has played for the USA since his announcement to the team.
USA squad for T20 series against Nepal: Monank Patel (captain), Andries Gaus, Abhishek Paradkar, Ayan Desai, Harmeet Singh, Juanoy Drysdale, Milind Kumar, Ali Khan, Nostusha Kenjige, Jasdeep Singh, Aaron Jones, Saiteja Mukkamalla, Shayan Jahangir, Utkarsh Srivastava, Yasir Mohammed.