The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the squad for team Indian that will be travelling to Australia for the T20 World Cup in October this year.
After a not so memorable Asia Cup, the Indian team has set their targets on the T20 World Cup. Fats bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel will be coming back to action after their respective injuries.
Before the commencement of the mega-event, Team India will be playing two limited overs series at home against Australia and South Africa. Rohit Sharma will lead the side with KL Rahul as vice-captain of the side. Former Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who rediscovered his form with a memorable century T20I ton against Afghanistan, will be a crucial factor too.
In the all-rounder section, after the unfortunate injury to Ravindra Jadeja during the Asia Cup has made way for Axar Patel who is almost a like-to-like replacement but Jadeja’s experience and fielding ability make him superior. Deepak Hooda has also retained his place in the team along with Hardik Pandya. It will be interesting to see how Rohit Sharma plays with the two wicketkeeper-batters, Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik, in the upcoming tournament.
Pant was subject to a lot of criticism after his poor run in the Asia Cup 2022 and was picked ahead of Dinesh Karthik to provide more balance to the team as a left-handed batter.
R Ashwin Retains his Place in the Squad
Interestingly, Ravichandran Ashwin has been added as the third spinner to the squad and along with him is leggie Yuzvendra Chahal. However, it would be worth watching how Rohit plays with his spin combination as Indian bowling attack had a lot of weaknesses in the Asia Cup 2022 and they were exposed badly.
However, Bumrah’s addition will make things better as very few bowlers are as good as he is in death overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has also made it to the 15-man squad after receiving a lot of backlash for leaking essential runs in the 19th over of matches against Pakistan and Sri lanka.
However, the senior bowler had redeemed himself after making a stellar comeback nin India’s last match of the tournament against Afghanistan.
India’s 15-man squad for T20 World Cup 2022: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, R Pant (WK), Dinesh Karthik (WK), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Y Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, B Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh
Standby players: Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar