(Cricket news) India have announced their squad for the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. Unlike last time there are absolutely no surprises in the squads which is probably a good thing. The squads for the Australia and South Africa series are also identical with a few changes here and there. India have 3 T20Is each against Australia and South Africa before they play 2 practice matches in Australia for the World Cup. India had a very disappointing Asia Cup as they couldn't reach the finals but the T20 World Cup is the big fish which India desperately wants and needs.
India's squad for the 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.
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.
The T20 World Cup squad has three changes from the Asia Cup squad. Ravindra Jadeja is injured and hence will not be a part of the squad. Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi have been dropped from the squad. Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel come back into the side after recovering from injury. The pair are also a part of the Australia and South Africa series after having got a long time out of the squad. Axar Patel comes in as Jadeja's direct replacement. Ravichandran Ashwin keeps his place in the squad as does Arshdeep Singh. India have gone ahead with both Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik and it is likely that the team chooses between them according to the combination and conditions.
All the batters and spinners in the World Cup squad are a part of the squads for Australia and South Africa series. The seamers who played the Asia Cup have been rested for 1 series each. Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are both rested for the South Africa series while Arshdeep Singh is rested for the Australia series. Mohammed Shami and Deepak Chahar are in those squads and are also stand-bys in the World Cup squad. The decision to bring Shami back in the mix is a good one even if he is just a stand-by for the World Cup. Both Chahar and Shami are likely to get a couple of games against Australia and/or South Africa to get back in the T20I groove.
The decision to drop Avesh Khan is understandable and long overdue as his performances have not been upto standard. As far as Ravi Bishnoi is concerned, it is a brutal call as he hasn't done anything wrong in his short international career so far. The decision is understandable as in Australian conditions, India don't need more than 3 spinners in the squad. The men in blue will play maximum 2 spinners in the XI and they needed 3 different kinds of spinners in the squad. In the last World Cup, India made a change in their squad by replacing Axar Patel with Shardul Thakur and it will be interesting to see if something like this happens again.
Also read: Were Harmanpreet's complaints after the 1st T20 against England valid?
