Veteran Indian Cricketer Piyush Chawla backed both seasoned Indian duo Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to make it into the T20 World Cup 2024 squad, stating that India will require their experience in the 20-team event in the United States and the West Indies.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were not included in India’s T20 team following the end of the 2022 T20 World Cup, as team management preferred younger players in the shorter format of the game. It will be interesting to see the team management go back to the experienced player for the marquee event.
Speaking on Star Sports, Piyush Chawla denied that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli would be taking the baggage of previous losses going forward. Instead, he believes that the Indian veterans will be motivated to accomplish something special for the team by winning the 2024 T20 World Cup, and he backs them to make the Indian squad for the marquee event in the West Indies and the USA.
“You can look at it differently as well because Kohli and Rohit must be thinking the other way (Asked if they will carry baggage from the past). They want to do something special to really win the World Cup. You don’t think like there is baggage or something because once you are on the field, you don’t think about what happened in the past, you are just living that current situation. If you ask me personally, I would say that experience matters in crunch situations,” Piyush Chawla said.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has released the full schedule for the T20 World Cup 2024, which will begin on June 1 in the United States and the West Indies. India has been assigned to Group A, which includes Pakistan, Ireland, Canada, and the United States. The Men In Blue will begin their campaign on June 5 against Ireland, followed by the marquee game against archrivals Pakistan on June 9 in New York.
It Will Be Very Easy For Selector To See Rohit Sharma And Virat Kohli Form – Sanjay Manjrekar
Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar feels that Indian selectors must wait and observe before making a decision on team composition based on IPL performance and believes that they need to make some tough calls going into the 2024 T20 World Cup.
“The selectors can just wait and watch. You play the waiting game. They have to wait until the time for selection comes. Then they have to make tough calls. And it will be very easy for them to see – Rohit Sharma’s form, Virat Kohli’s form, and everyone else who are competing their form in the IPL,” Sanjay Manjrekar said.
The senior selection committee faces a couple of major challenges as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s availability for the T20 World Cup. The Men in Blue will be without the services of Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav for the Afghanistan T20 series but would be hopeful of having them for the marquee event.
