India’s T20 World Cup Squad: Key Players and Strategies Towards Glory
India’s squad has been unveiled with a strategic focus on spinners and batters in anticipation of the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies.
Yuzvendra Chahal, a legspinner, returned to the Rohit Sharma-led squad of fifteen players.
The 15-man Indian squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup, which will take place in the USA and the West Indies starting on June 1, includes Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, and Sanju Samson. The team was revealed on Tuesday afternoon, with Hardik Pandya serving as vice captain and Rohit Sharma leading the team.
Yuzvendra Chahal has been selected as one of four spin options, along with left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav, left-arm spin-bowling all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, and on the strength of his IPL form. Chahal was not included in India’s recent T20I squads for the series in South Africa and at home against Afghanistan in January.
There are just three specialists in the pace attack: Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, and Jasprit Bumrah. Hardik and Dube are available as seam-bowling options.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was favored to open with Rohit, and Shubman Gill was picked as a reserve player, along with fast bowlers Avesh Khan and Khaleel Ahmed, lower-order batsman Rinku Singh.
After his automobile accident in December 2022, Pant hasn’t played a Twenty20 international since. However, he has earned a spot back in the team with his IPL 2024 efforts. In 11 innings, he has scored 398 runs at a strike average of 158.56. He has also dispelled any worries that were raised about his wicketkeeping throughout the season.
Samson was left out of the 2022 World Cup roster in favor of Dinesh Karthik. This is his first selection in a World Cup squad. As captain of the Rajasthan Royals, who lead the IPL 2024 league table with eight victories in nine games, Samson has been in similar prolific form as Pant. Thus far, he has amassed 385 runs with a strike average of 161.08 in nine innings.
KL Rahul and Jitesh Sharma had no room when Pant and Samson were added. While Jitesh was a recent member of India’s T20I squads, he has struggled this IPL. Rahul, on the other hand, hasn’t played a T20I since the previous World Cup.
Eight of the fifteen players chosen, including Virat Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma, competed for India in the 2022 T20 World Cup. The BCCI attempted to experiment with younger players by implementing drastic changes following their semi-final loss against England. However, ahead of the home series against Afghanistan in January, Rohit and Kohli made their T20I squad comeback after more than a year apart.
Dube, who top-scored with 124 runs in three innings during the series, also made his comeback to the international scene. He was a strong choice because of his ability to suppress spin for the Chennai Super Kings throughout the previous two IPL seasons, as well as his development against fast bowling in 2024. Rinku, India’s chosen T20I finisher for the previous eight months, was unable to make the fifteen due to Dube’s participation.
India had been led by Hardik since the 2022 T20 World Cup, with Suryakumar Yadav taking over after Hardik suffered an ankle injury during the ODI World Cup in October-November. Rohit returned to the T20I team in January. India was captained by Suryakumar in the three games played in South Africa in December as well as the five T20I matches played at home against Australia in November. After recovering from an ankle injury and sports hernia in the IPL, he will play his first Twenty20 international match at the 2017 World Cup.
Also Read: India vs Pakistan: Thrilling ICC World Twenty20 World Cup Final 2007 Recap
Chahal, who has played 80 Twenty20 Internationals throughout the years, might finally feature in a T20 World Cup match after playing his most recent T20I eight months ago. In 2021, Rahul Chahar was preferred over him; nevertheless, in 2022, Chahal was omitted from India’s XI in favor of R Ashwin and Axar Patel. Despite bowling in the final overs, he has taken 13 wickets in nine IPL 2024 games at an economy of 9.00 so far.
The team will travel to the USA in groups, with the first group departing India on May 21. Head coach Rahul Dravid, additional members of the coaching staff, and players from the IPL 2024 clubs that aren’t in the playoffs will be traveling with this team. IPL 2024’s league stage matches end on May 19, and the playoffs start on May 21 and run through May 26, when the competition concludes.
India’s World Cup campaign starts on June 5 in New York against Ireland. On June 9, 12, and 15, they play Pakistan, USA, and Canada.
Rinku Singh’s Exclusion Sparks Debate Among Cricket Experts
The late great Sunil Gavaskar blamed Rinku Singh’s exclusion from the team for his subpar performance in the current Indian Premier League.
The likes of former Australia captain Aaron Finch and all-rounder Irfan Pathan were surprised that big-hitter Rinku Singh did not make the final India squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in the Americas. However, the great Sunil Gavaskar explained it away by pointing to the left-handed batter’s dismal form in the current IPL.
The BCCI on Tuesday revealed a 15-man team for the T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies in June. Shubman Gill, Avesh Khan, and Khaleel Ahmed, in addition to the hard-hitting middle-order batter who has played 15 T20Is, will be kept in the reserves.
Pathan, one of the most outspoken ex-players following the news, stated on ‘X’ that “Rinku’s recent past performance for Team India shouldn’t have been ignored.” It “surprised” former Australia white-ball captain Finch that the BCCI selectors included four spinners in the lineup instead of Rinku.
It astonished me that there were four spinners. “I only had two spinners and Rinku in there,” Finch stated.
The legendary West Indian Ian Bishop also voiced his astonishment at Rinku’s absence, adding, “I believe Rinku Singh has accomplished enough in international cricket, if you’re talking about surprises. He maintains a spot in the 15 by averaging well over 60 or 70 in T20Is.
“So, the only thing that made my ears stand up was that. Thus, what I’m saying is that Rinku hasn’t been preferred—someone like Axar (Patel), the additional spinner,” Bishop stated.
However, Gavaskar believed that Rinku’s performance in the current IPL was a factor in his exclusion from the starting lineup. “Perhaps his performance in this IPL season hasn’t been all that outstanding. “Maybe because he hasn’t had many opportunities, the selectors haven’t chosen him,” Gavaskar said to Sports Today.
He expressed his desire to have a player similar to T Natarajan, a left-handed bowler, in the team headed to the World Cup.
“I was envisioning someone more akin to left-handed fast bowler T Natarajan. Since he has been bowling so brilliantly, we believed he should have been in the squad. The former captain of India was certain that the team led by Rohit Sharma would perform well at the major tournament. “I don’t know why, but there’s no denying that this Indian team appears to be a very strong one. It has a ton of experience, some really powerful hitters, and a diverse bowling lineup,” he said.
Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Kuldeep Yadav are India’s four spinners going into the championship match, but they only have three fast bowlers with specialization. Gavaskar believes that all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was selected Rohit’s deputy on Tuesday, will fill in as the country’s fourth seamer.
“Maybe that explains why they (the selectors) chose four spin bowlers, as Hardik Pandya can bowl in addition to the fourth seam bowler. The surfaces in the West Indies will provide spinners a bit more assistance than fast bowlers.
“As we have seen in the IPL, the slower the deliveries, the harder it is for the batters to hit and that’s perhaps the reason why they have gone with extra spinner,” Gavaskar stated.
Shubman Gill’s “patchy” IPL performance made Gavaskar feel that he had too many problems, and the selectors only gave him a reserve player’s consideration.
The advantage that India possesses is their abundance of players. In fact, with a little bit of luck, that second team you manage to assemble will be just as capable of winning this Cup.
“Well, that does happen occasionally, and it appears that Gill was one of those players who had to be left out. Once more, he has had inconsistent play in the last few games. He had a great start to the IPL, but his play in the last several games has been inconsistent, costing GT wins. Gill scores and GT has been victorious. “Neither they nor he has been winning,” Gavaskar remarked.
After the Indian squad failed to create an impression in the previous two T20 World Cups, Gavaskar believed a shift in “attitude” and “approach” would guarantee the Rohit-led team would win the trophy.
“There has been changes in attitude, changes in approach, which we saw in the 50-over World Cup (last year in India), and that augurs well for this (T20) World Cup as well.”
