India on Wednesday called in national legend M.S. Dhoni to act as team mentor for the Twenty20 World Cup starting next month.
The 40-year-old, who retired from international cricket last year, is India's most successful captain having won the World Cup, the inaugural T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy.
Ashwin, a 34-year-old off-spinner, returns to the limited-overs fold after four years since playing a T20 for the national side in July 2017.
Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan remains one of the notable omissions from the squad after he recently led India on a limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka.
Wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have also been left out with the selectors opting for Chakravarthy and legspinner Rahul Chahar instead.
India begin their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 24 in Dubai.
India World T20 squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami
