Former India opener Murli Vijay has left out in-form Sanju Samson, as he declared his 15-man India T20 World Cup 2024 squad on Star Sports. The tournament will be played in the West Indies and the United States of America (USA).
The deadline for the India squad announcement approaching its eleventh hour. Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee, along with India captain Rohit Sharma find a difficult task in their hand for selecting the best 15 players for the world event.
According to various sources, BCCI’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar and the BCCI sectary Jay Shah have reached Ahmedabad for the selection meeting of the India squad.
Even though there were so many wicket-keepers to select, the former Chennai Super Kings batter Murli Vijay has made his pick.
Murli Vijay selects KL Rahul as the second wicket-keeper; also keeps Shubman Gill
Even though Sanju Samson’s name was coming as the second wicket-keeper for India in the T20 World Cup 2024, Murli Vijay has gone with experienced KL Rahul. The Lucknow Super Giants captain has been in fine touch in this Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 with 378 runs in nine innings while opening the batting.
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Although Sanju Samson has a better record in this IPL, with 385 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 161.08, Vijay’s decision might be because of KL Rahul’s ability to come as a backup opening option. Rahul also did a great job for India as the wicketkeeper during the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Shubman Gill, who has been a little inconsistent so far in this IPL 2024 for his 320 runs at a strike rate of 140.96, has also found the opening spot in Vijay’s India squad for the world event. Without any doubt, Virat Kohli, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, and Rishabh Pant have found a place in Vijay’s Rohit Sharma-led India squad.
Quite interestingly, Vijay has picked up the raw pace of Mayank Yadav. The young pacer has fired up the IPL 2024 with six wickets in just three games. Yuzvendra Chahal, the joint second-highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 13 scalps has also found a place in that squad.
In the fast bowling, Vijay has decided to appoint Thangarasu Natarajan as another pace bowling option. The left-hand bowler for the Sunrisers Hyderabad has been in superb touch in the death overs and also has collected 13 wickets at an economy of nine. However, Rinku Singh, who had 126 runs in nine innings in IPL 2024, was dropped out from the squad.
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Murli Vijay’s India squad for the T20 World Cup 2024:
Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk.), Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Mayank Yadav, Mohammad Siraj, Thangarasu Natarajan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul (wk.).
