India name 15-man T20 World Cup squad
Shreyas Iyer and Mohammed Shami are among the four standby players. Avesh Khan has been dropped while Ravindra Jadeja does not feature due to injury.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in action (BCCI)
India have announced a 15-man squad for the 2022 T20 World Cup to be held from October 16 to November 13 in Australia.
India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
Standby players: Mohd. Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar.
Shreyas Iyer and Mohammed Shami are among the four standby players. Shami has been named in the main squad for the South Africa and Australia T20Is which will be played at home prior to the T20 World Cup. The Australia series starts on September 20 and the South Africa series starts on September 28.
Also on the standby list for the World Cup are Ravi Bishnoi and Deepak Chahar, two players who were part of the recent Asia Cup campaign. Avesh Khan has been dropped while Ravindra Jadeja does not feature because of injury.
The two players who missed out on World Cup berth were pacer Avesh Khan and leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who was pipped by senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Once Harshal was fit and available, there was very little chance for Avesh to make a cut especially with a death overs economy rate of 18 in recent times.
India will play their first match against Pakistan at the MCG on October 23. Bumrah, who was suffering from back injury and Harshal, who had a side strain, had done an intense rehabilitation programme at the National Cricket Academy and the BCCI medical team has deemed them fit for the marquee series.
Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka (likely Qualifier in India's group) all have a couple of left-handers in top five and if Ashwin is played, he can exploit that advantage. Which is why he pipped Bishnoi to the 15-man squad.
The batting unit, which hasn't performed up to expectations on big days more or less remained the same and in fact there aren't any new faces from the last T20 World Cup squad save Deepak Hooda, who won't always be an automatic first XI player.
The only debate that remains unsolved is whether Dinesh Karthik will play or Rishabh Pant, who is the only specialist left-hander in the top-order with Ravindra Jadeja ruled out for indefinite period.
India Squad for Australia T20Is: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohd. Shami, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah.
India squad for South Africa T20Is: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd. Shami, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah.
(With PTI inputs)
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