Kris Srikkanth, Former India opener and chief selector, has shared his picks for the Indian T20 World Cup 2024 squad. The ICC event will be played in the USA and the West Indies in June. India has not won the T20 World Cup since their inaugural win in 2007.
India has been reaching the knockouts of ICC events regularly but hasn’t been able to win a trophy since the 2013 Champions Trophy win. In 2023 itself, India lost the final of the World Test Championship and the World Cup, both to Australia.
This might be the final chance for veterans like captain Rohit Sharma and batter Virat Kohli to win the T20 title given their age and the emergence of young guns.
No Yashasvi Jaiswal in Kris Srikkanth’s India squad; Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma to open for India in T20 World Cup
Interestingly, Kris Srikkanth has left out dashing young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal from his India T20 World Cup squad and instead went for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as openers.
“Yashasvi Jaiswal was a strong contender in my team, but as of now, it’s going to be Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma who will open the innings for me in the T20 World Cup. Because I will have to look at the balance, who’s going to come at No.3, who’s going to bat at No.4, what is the impact you want to create, you need to take all those things into account.
“Sometimes, you have to take hard calls as the chairman of the selection committee. It will be difficult as Yashasvi is a very good player, his track record is good, but for me, it will be Rohit and Kohli opening,” Srikkanth said on Star Sports.
Srikkanth has gone for Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, and KL Rahul as the other batters in the lineup. Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar Patel are his spinners. He also said that one of Sanju Samson or Rishabh Pant will be the second wicketkeeper in the squad.
In the pace bowling department, Srikkanth has picked Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan. However, instead of Mohammed Siraj, who is having a tough time in the IPL 2024, Srikkanth has gone with T Natarajan.
Natarajan has been very good for Sunrisers Hyderabad and has 12 wickets in just 6 games in the tournament. His best bowling is 4/19 and his economy of 8.71.
