In the short period gap between the international match and IPL 2020, some top Indian cricketers will serve for Asia XI in the special two T20Is against World XI in Bangladesh. Though both the teams have been sorted out recently, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will take the final call on the participation of the Indian cricketers after assessing the workload status of the players.
After returning from the ongoing New Zealand tour, where some of the Indian cricketers featured in all the three international series, they will end the current international cricket season with three-match home ODI series against South Africa. They will play these ODIs on 12th, 15th and 18th March at Dharamsala, Lucknow and Kolkata respectively.
After this ODI series, the Indian players will focus on the IPL 2020, which will begin on 29th March. However, just earlier of IPL 2020, some of them will travel to Bangladesh to participate in the Mujib 100 T20 Cup Bangladesh 2020 which will be played at Dhaka on 21st and 22nd March 2020. In that special T20I series, Asia XI will play two matches against World XI. Apart from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal cricketers, five-six Indian cricketers will also feature in this series.
In the Asia XI squad, six Indian cricketers are Dhawan, Rahul, Kohli, Pant, Shami and Kuldeep
According to the latest squad report from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav are in the Asia XI squad from India. While Rahul is likely to play one game of this series, Kohli’s presence will depend according to his acceptance.
While most of these Indian cricketers are busy travelling and playing cricket matches in recent times, these additional two special T20Is can be hectic for them. However, the BCCI has now clarified that they will take the final call on this special T20I series in Bangladesh after assessing their workload status.
A senior BCCI source told PTI, “The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has sent a wish list of 10 names and we are supposed to send five players. As of now, we have not confirmed any names. All the players including the skipper will undergo tests to check their level of workload. Only then we will give the names.”
Recently, the Indian captain Virat Kohli has raised his concern over the pressure of the long stressful cricket matches, including long hectic travelling. So, his presence in the Mujib 100 T20 Cup Bangladesh 2020 will remain doubtful continuously until his official acceptance for this T20I series, especially when Kohli will also feature in the IPL 2020 (captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore), just like the other Indian cricketers.