India's flop show in the two big T20 events -- this year's Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup last year -- will certainly be on the selectors' mind when they sit down to pick the 15-man team for this year's T20 World Cup.
India failed to advance past the group stage in last year's T20 World Cup in the UAE and also couldn't make it to the title clash in the six-nation Asia Cup after successive defeats to Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
With several cricketers misfiring in the Asia Cup, the Indian selectors face a major headache as they try to identify the best possible squad for the T20 World Cup, to be held in Australia in October-November.
Courtesy of their jam packed schedule, the team has been in experimentation mode in T20 cricket for the last year or so, and it seems like even the management is unsure of what India's best playing XI is at the moment.
There were a lot of selection blunders which came to the fore at the Asia Cup. The decision to rest Mohammed Shami backfired big time, while having no cover for the opening position was also a questionable call.
Virat Kohli silenced his critics with some superb knocks in the Asia Cup and so did Suryakumar Yadav, but the likes of K L Rahul and Rishabh Pant are certainly racing against time.
The Asia Cup also exposed India's bowling frailities with the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya going for a lot of runs in the crucial matches.
India suffered a big blow when all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was ruled out with a knee injury and he is expected to miss the T20 World Cup after undergoing surgery but pace ace Jasprit Bumrah is likely to be back for the mega event, with the selectors also expected to bring back Shami, who picked 20 wickets in 16 matches in IPL 2022.
There could also be a case to pick young opener Shubman Gill, who excelled with the bat for the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022, and also did well for India in the limited chances he got recently, and it could be be a close call between the two pacers bowlers -- Deepak Chahar and Avesh Khan.
Harish Kotian's Squad for T20 World Cup: 1. Rohit Sharma (captain) 2. Virat Kohli 3. Suryakumar Yadav 4. K L Rahul 5. Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper) 6. Deepak Hooda 7. Hardik Pandya 8. Shubman Gill 9. Ravichandran Ashwin 10. Yuzvendra Chahal 11. Mohammed Shami 12. Jasprit Bumrah 13. Arshdeep Singh 14. Bhuvneshwar Kumar 15. Deepak Chahar/Avesh Khan.
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