India’s T20 World Cup Squad: Major Star to be Excluded, Wicketkeeper’s Position a ‘Close Call’ – Report

The BCCI source told PTI that there would not be any experimentation or left-field selections. All those who have played for India and have done well consistently in T20 Internationals and the IPL will be rewarded. Rahul and Kishan bat at the top of the order, and they haven’t tried batting in the middle order in this IPL so far, making it difficult for selectors to analyze their impact down the order. It is understood that Siraj is being rested by RCB as he has been playing constantly and needed workload management.

In the choice between Gill and Jaiswal, the former has scored more runs. However, in the case of Jaiswal, who has been a big find for Indian cricket, the selection committee might not give up easily on him merely for a few low IPL scores. Also, being the only left-hander inside the top four is a novelty. If Gill piles up enough runs, it will be a difficult choice unless the selectors accommodate both and drop one among Shivam and Rinku from the 15.

While Chahal is head and shoulders above the other two in terms of bowling skills, his repeated omissions from important squads leave a big question mark about his inclusion in the showpiece in June. The ‘Impact Player’ rule has been good for IPL viewership but detrimental for Indian cricket. It has killed the concept of all-rounder and hence a half-fit Hardik Pandya also has premium value because he can bowl. Selectors don’t know about Dube’s bowling form.

He doesn’t bowl now as he is an ‘Impact Player,’ which is hurting the national team. There are two white-ball series against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, and these young men would be in line for their India debuts at that time. Nitish Reddy, who is a seam bowling all-rounder and was part of India Emerging side that toured Sri Lanka last year, could also follow the same path. The probable 20 (15+5 standbys) in contention are:
– Specialist Batters (6): Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rinku Singh
– All-Rounders (4): Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel
– Specialist Spinners (3): Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi
– Wicketkeeper-batter (3): Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson