Team India will look to end their ICC trophy drought when participating in the T20 World Cup 2024. India will open their T20 World Cup campaign against Ireland on June 5 before facing Pakistan in a blockbuster encounter on June 9. The Rohit Sharma-led side will face the United States on June 12 and Canada on June 15. Men in Blue must finish in the top two to qualify for the Super Eights.
Indian players, including captain Rohit and Jasprit Bumrah, have already arrived in the United States and are preparing for the T20 World Cup. However, Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya are expected to join the team before the warm-up game against Bangladesh on June 1.
Meanwhile, India’s T20 World Cup squad has raised eyebrows and disappointed several pundits. Since the T20 World Cup was planned after the IPL, experts believed that players who performed well in the competition should have been considered; however, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee was not brave enough to send a young team to the United States and the West Indies.
Several players who performed well in the IPL 2024, such as Abhishek Sharma, Harshit Rana, and Rinku Singh, were left out. In contrast, Hardik and Ravindra Jadeja, who had a dismal season, were included.
Choosing the best playing XI will be a major challenge for Rohit. The captain’s most difficult decision will be who will play as his opening partner. India has Yashasvi Jaiswal in their team, but Kohli performed well as an opener in the IPL. While most analysts have backed Jaiswal to start, India will be tempted to deploy Kohli as an opener as it will allow them to accommodate Sanju Samson, who also had an amazing run in IPL 2024.
The conditions in the United States will not be ideal for batting, therefore players who are technically sound and adept at rotating the strike will be more successful. Allowing Kohli to open and Rohit to unleash beast mode at the other end may work wonders for India.
India will also have to decide whether to play two pacers and three spinners or vice versa; however, given how the wickets have performed in the United States, the team is more likely to go in with a spin-heavy attack, with Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav getting a chance in the playing XI. Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj should be the team’s pacers. India’s strongest playing XI would be Rohit, Kohli, Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik, Jadeja, Axar, Kuldeep, Bumrah, and Siraj.
