The much-awaited Indian team for the T20 World Cup 2024 was announced on Tuesday (April 30). Rohit Sharma has been named captain of the team which has seen some bold decisions being made for the tournament scheduled to be held in the US and the Caribbean in June this year.
Despite much speculation about his place in the team for the T20 World Cup 2024, all-rounder Hardik Pandya retained his place in the team. In addition, he was also named the team’s vice-captain for the tournament, having previously served in this role at the 2023 World Cup.
Hardik Pandya has been in top form in the Indian Premier League. The all-rounder last played for India at the 2024 World Cup and has been out due to injury since then. He returned via IPL but it has been a forgettable outing for him so far.
Hardik Pandya has failed to perform well with the bat and ball in the IPL. Apart from this, he has also come under a lot of scrutiny in the league for his poor captaincy skills. Under his leadership, Mumbai Indians have lost six games and are struggling to make it into the tournament.
While Hardik Pandya was selected for the Indian team, Rinku Singh was left out of the team for the 2024 T20 World Cup. The batsman has hardly put a foot wrong in his international career and was expected to be in the final squad. However, this was not the case as he was placed in the reserves.
In the squad, Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube were also selected for the team. Both batters were included in the team due to their great performances in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. The duo have been spitting fire with the bat in the tournament and are one of the main reasons for their team’s success.
With Rinku Singh’s place in the team and the selection of Hardik Pandya, there has been a lot of criticism that BCCI has faced. They criticized the governing body for not picking Rinku, who averages around 90 in T20Is, as an out-of-form all-rounder.
However, a source close to BCCI revealed that there was a dispute between Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube for a place in the team. He explained that the KKR batsman was unlucky and there was also a lot of debate about Hardik’s place in the team for the T20 World Cup 2024. Speaking to PTI, he stated:
“There was a lot of debate about Hardik’s place in the squad while there was not much debate about Samson. Rinku was just unlucky. It was a fight between (Dube and Rinku with Hardik also in the squad).”
A BCCI source also revealed that the impact player rule in the IPL was the reason for Rinku Singh’s snub in the World Cup.
“No doubt, Rinku paid the price for the Impact Player Rule. He’s simply unlucky. “Hardik may be in poor form but he is still India’s best seam bowling all-rounder and it would have been a risk to drop him considering he is the only one who has bowled,” a BCCI said -Source told PTI on condition of anonymity.
Team India squad for T20 World Cup 2024
Apart from the above-mentioned players, Yuzvendra Chahal has been named in the team for the 2024 T20 World Cup. The leg-spinner has been in top form in the Indian Premier League and is the team’s second wicket-taker in the tournament.
BCCI has picked only three pacers in Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. Rishabh Pant is the first choice goalkeeper in the team. The batting department will be strengthened by Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav.
Here is the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup 2024:
Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh . , Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan