Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, and Sanju Samson have all been named to India’s 15-man squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup, which begins on June 1 in the United States and the West Indies. The squad, which was announced on Tuesday afternoon, will be led by Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya as vice-captain.
Yuzvendra Chahal, who was not included in India’s recent T20I squads for the series in South Africa and at home against Afghanistan in January, has been selected based on his IPL performance and is one of four spin options, alongside left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav and left-arm spin-bowling allrounders Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
The pace attack consists of only three specialists: Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Arshdeep Singh, with Hardik and Dube serving as seam bowling options.
Rohit’s opening partner was chosen to be Yashasvi Jaiswal, with Shubman Gill, lower-order batter Rinku Singh, and fast bowlers Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan named as reserves.
Pant has not played a T20I since his car accident in December 2022, but he has worked his way back into the squad thanks to his performances in the IPL 2024. He has 398 runs in 11 innings with a strikeout rate of 158.56. Throughout the season, he has also dispelled any doubts about his wicketkeeping ability.
This is Samson’s first World Cup selection, having missed out to Dinesh Karthik in 2022. Samson, like Pant, has been in prolific form as captain of the Rajasthan Royals, who currently lead the IPL 2024 league table with eight wins in nine games.
He has 385 runs in nine innings with a strike rate of 161.08 so far. The inclusion of Pant and Samson made no room for KL Rahul or Jitesh Sharma.
While Rahul has not played a T20I since the previous World Cup, Jitesh has been a member of India’s recent T20I squads, but his form has been poor this IPL.
Eight of the 15 selected players, including captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, competed in India’s 2022 T20 World Cup campaign.
Following their semi-final defeat to England, the BCCI implemented significant changes in an attempt to experiment with younger players.
However, Rohit and Kohli returned to the T20I squad after more than a year away, ahead of the home series against Afghanistan in January.
Dube returned to international cricket in that series, scoring 124 runs in three innings. His ability to take down spin in the middle overs for the Chennai Super Kings over the last two IPL seasons, combined with his improvement against fast bowling in 2024, made him an appealing choice. Rinku, India’s designated T20I finisher for the past eight months, was unable to make the 15 due to Dube’s inclusion.
Prior to Rohit’s return to the T20I team in January, Hardik had mostly captained India since the 2022 T20 World Cup, with Suryakumar Yadav taking over after Hardik injured his ankle during the ODI World Cup in October-November.
Suryakumar captained India in a five-game T20I series at home against Australia in November and three games in South Africa in December.
The upcoming World Cup will be his first T20I since his return to the IPL after an ankle injury and sports hernia.
Chahal also played his most recent T20I eight months ago and could now play his first T20 World Cup match after playing 80 T20Is over the years.
Rahul Chahar was preferred over him in 2021, and in 2022, R Ashwin and Axar Patel made regular appearances in India’s XI while Chahal sat out.
He has 13 wickets in nine games of IPL 2024, with an economy rate of 9.00 despite bowling in the death overs.
The squad will leave India for the United States in batches, with the first leaving on May 21.
This traveling group will include head coach Rahul Dravid, other coaching staff members, and squad members from IPL 2024 teams that did not make the playoffs. The last day of league-stage matches in the IPL 2024 is May 19, and the playoffs begin on May 21 before the tournament concludes on May 26.
India will begin their World Cup campaign against Ireland on June 5 in New York, followed by matches against Pakistan, the United States, and Canada on June 9, 12, and 15.
India squad for 2024 T20 World Cup
(With player’s IPL 2024 stats as of April 30)
1 Rohit Sharma (capt) (311 runs, strike rate 160.30)
2 Yashasvi Jaiswal (249 runs, strike rate 154.65)
3 Virat Kohli (500 runs, strike rate 147.49)
4 Suryakumar Yadav (166 runs, strike rate 171.13)
5 Rishabh Pant (398 runs, strike rate 158.56)
6 Sanju Samson (385 runs, strike rate 161.08)
7 Hardik Pandya (197 runs, strike rate 151.53, 4 wickets, economy rate 11.94)
8 Shivam Dube (350 runs, strike rate 172.41)
9 Ravindra Jadeja (157 runs, strike rate 131.93, 5 wickets, economy rate 7.54)
10 Axar Patel (149 runs, strike rate 124.16, 9 wickets, economy rate 7.24)
11 Kuldeep Yadav (12 wickets, economy rate 12.45)
12 Yuzvendra Chahal (13 wickets, economy rate 9.00)
13 Arshdeep Singh (12 wickets, economy rate 9.63)
14 Jasprit Bumrah (14 wickets, economy rate 6.63)
15 Mohammed Siraj (6 wickets, economy rate 9.50)
Reserve players
Rinku Singh (123 runs, strike rate 150)
Khaleel Ahmed (12 wickets, economy rate 9.47)
Shubman Gill (320 runs, strike rate 140.96)
Avesh Khan (9 wickets, economy rate 9.54)
