Indian Team Cricket – With just five months to go before the start of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, the inaugural winners of the tournament have many selection issues to sort out.
India face another ICC tournament where over a billion people are hoping that their highly talented team will win a major medal for the first time since they won the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy in England.
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With T20I series against South Africa, Ireland and England before the big dance, the real challenge for the continental giants may be picking the right combination from their existing pool of players – talent.
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On initial assessment, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli seem to have been sealed in the team.
While all three are likely to be picked eventually, Sharma and Virat Kohli’s recent performances have raised concerns. A total of just two fifties in 28 innings between the two, and an average of 19.14 for Sharma and 23.76 for Kohli in the IPL, raises a huge red flag for the World Cup season.
If India insist on this trio, it also means they have three right-handers at the top.
Interestingly, six of the previous seven ICC Men’s T20 World Cup winners have had a pair of left-handed and right-handed openers in the final with Pakistan (2010) being the only one.
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Apart from his consistent IPL scores, Dhawan has a good history in ICC events averaging 53.70 in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and 77.88 in the ICC Champions Trophy. He won the Player of the Tournament award at the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy and also has fond memories in Australia of two ODI centuries and a T20I average of 33.87.
Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Devdutt Padikkal and Ruturaj Gaikwad who have successfully opened the innings for their respective IPL franchises would be suitable options. The biggest problem with picking people in this series is their lack of experience with the four combining for just 15 T20Is, with Kishan’s 10 T20Is making up the bulk of it.
Finding a consistent middle order and the seemingly impossible task of replacing MS Dhoni’s versatility could be a problem for India.
Last year, we saw Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya taking turns filling the void. Although Pant cannot be replaced as he is the first-choice wicketkeeper, the team still needs a more reliable batsman in their line-up.
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In Pandya, India has many different floaters who can find in many places depending on the game situation. Unlike Iyer and Yadav, who played just one match between them in Australia, the Gujarat Titans skipper has had an impressive tour Down Under in 2020.
Pandya averaged 105 thanks to two crucial innings of 90 and 92* in the three-match ODI series, and won the Player of the Series award in the T20I series win over the hosts. Confidence has never been an issue for any batsman but the recent captaincy stint in the IPL seems to have filled that tank completely. The perfect combination of form and experience, if India are looking for an additional option, is Dinesh Karthik. Not only was he part of the title-winning teams in the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, he also averaged 57.40 and scored 191.33 runs for the Royal Challengers. Bangalore in this year’s IPL.
He has done his job to the best of his ability, but will the selectors take the leap of faith and add Karthik to the World Cup squad?
It’s no secret that India love, even depend on, a good spin attack and they could see them continue their dominance this October.
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Yuzvendra Chahal’s exclusion from India’s 2021 squad is arguably the biggest thing ahead of the T20 World Cup. The leg-spinner has turned a page, joining a new IPL franchise and with 26 wickets to his name, currently tops the season’s most wickets table.
Kuldeep Yadav has also been in good form over the past two months picking up 21 wickets, while veteran Ravichandran Ashwin has shown his versatility and ability with the bat, averaging 146 30.
Three good options already mentioned and we haven’t mentioned the reliable Ravindra Jadeja. The all-rounder who is the mainstay of the T20I side has had an underwhelming IPL season that started with a poor captaincy spell with Chennai Super Kings and was ruled out of the tournament due to injury.
At this point, it wouldn’t be surprising if three or four of these spinners would board the plane to Australia with the likes of Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi an outside chance to take their place.
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If a graph plots the growth in the quality of fast bowlers in India from 1990 to 2022, it shows a positive trend. Fans remember that they depended on only a handful of fast bowlers to take wickets with the likes of Manoj Prabhakar, Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad carrying the jersey largely in the 1990s.
But those days are gone. India’s current fast bowling attack is arguably the best and their depth justifies that statement.
It’s hard to find more lethal bowlers in the world than Jasprit Bumrah. His partner Mohammed Shami brings discipline at the top of the innings and with the pace duo having 683 international wickets between them, ensures experience should not be an issue.
But this is where the Indian selectors are interested as they have a number of pacers who might put their hands on the last spot in the fast bowler’s starting 11.
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Harshal Patel continues to be a threat to all opponents in the IPL taking 18 wickets and with the variety he offers, could be the front runner to partner Bumrah to finish the innings.
On the other hand, Raja Punjab’s Arshdeep Singh offers control and more importantly, left-arm bowling options. Four of the previous seven T20 World Cup winners had at least one left-arm seamer in the final winning team.
The only left-arm spinner India could see was T. Natarajan who also took 18 wickets but was quite expensive at 9.44 runs/over.
And then we have the most wildcard with Umran Malik breaking every figurative glass ceiling in existence with incredible speed. Not only has Malik consistently bowled around 150km/h, he also has 21 wickets in this year’s IPL which puts him in the top five this season.
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There’s no substitute for raw speed and it’s probably one trait you can’t teach with a fastball. We often hear the word “x-factor” thrown around in T20 Cricket and 22-year-old Malik could be the x-factor for his team.
India could consider someone with some experience like Shardul Thakur, who is part of the T20 World Cup 2021 edition or look at Prasidh Krishna who is making his international debut this year.
The selectors have little time before making a critical decision but with less than five months to go before the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, they would prefer the decision to come sooner rather than later. *(Reported statistics/data is on May 22, 2022)
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Test squad for Bangladesh series: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja , Axar Patel , Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav.
ODI squad for Bangladesh series: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravindra Jadeja , Axar Patel , W Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Yash Dayal
ODI squad for New Zealand series: Shikhar Dhawan (C), Rishabh