Cumbria's Liam Livingstone has been called up to England's Twenty20 squad.

The 27-year-old will be part of the national side's tour of India next month.

He has not featured in a T20 international game since 2017 when he faced South Africa during a 19-run win in a 2-1 series victory for England.

His impressive displays for Perth Scorchers in the BBL have influenced selector Ed Smith's decision to name the Barrovian batsman.

In 14 innings for the Scorchers, Livingstone hit 426 runs as they finished runners-up to fellow Englishman James Vince's Sydney Sixers.

Vince and BBL top run-scorer Alex Hales were both overlooked by Smith.

Smith has revealed that Livingstone's spin bowling was a key factor in snubbing Vince.

However, the squad's main omission is Test captain Joe Root.

Root has recently hit two double centuries in test matches against Sri Lanka and India, recording 644 runs in three Tests since the start of the year.

Despite this, Smith explained that the 30-year-old's absence is due to the strength of England's batting options alongside a hectic schedule for Root with the Test side, where they will play 17 times in 2021.

It is understood that Root will play in the ODIs following the T20I series.

Five T20I games will be played between India and England, with them all being hosted at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad.

The games will take place at 1.30pm on 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 March.

Livingstone and the touring party will leave for India on Friday 26 February.

The England T20I squad: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex) (captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Sam Billings (Kent), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), Reece Topley (Surrey), Mark Wood (Durham).