Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, and Sanju Samson have all earned spots in India’s 15-member squad for the upcoming 2024 T20 World Cup, set to commence on June 1 in the USA and the West Indies. The squad, revealed on Tuesday afternoon, will be captained by Rohit Sharma, with Hardik Pandya serving as the vice-captain.
Yuzvendra Chahal, absent from India’s recent T20I squads for the series in South Africa and against Afghanistan at home in January, has been included based on his performance in the IPL. He joins a quartet of spin options, comprising left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav, and left-arm spin-bowling allrounders Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
The pace department features only three specialists – Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Arshdeep Singh – supplemented by the seam-bowling abilities of Hardik and Dube.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was chosen as Rohit’s opening partner, while Shubman Gill was designated as a reserve player alongside lower-order batter Rinku Singh and fast bowlers Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.
Pant hasn’t participated in a T20I match since his car accident in December 2022, but he has earned his place back in the squad through his performances in IPL 2024. His tally of 398 runs in 11 innings has been amassed at a strike rate of 158.56. Throughout the season, he has also dispelled any doubts regarding his wicketkeeping abilities.
This marks Samson’s debut selection in a World Cup squad, following his exclusion in 2022 in favor of Dinesh Karthik. Similar to Pant, Samson has showcased impressive form as the captain of Rajasthan Royals, currently leading the IPL 2024 league table with eight wins in nine games. He has accumulated 385 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 161.08 thus far. The inclusion of Pant and Samson meant there was no place for KL Rahul or Jitesh Sharma. While Rahul has been absent from T20I action since the previous World Cup, Jitesh had been part of India’s recent T20I squads, but his performance in this IPL season has been below par.
Eight out of the 15 selected players, including captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, were part of India’s 2022 T20 World Cup campaign. Following their semi-final defeat to England then, the BCCI initiated significant changes aiming to experiment with younger talents. However, Rohit and Kohli made a comeback to the T20I squad after more than a year’s hiatus, ahead of the Afghanistan series at home in January.
