India's T20 World Cup Squad: KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad - Stars Who Missed Out
KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad missed out on India’s T20 World Cup squad (AP)
India named their 15-player squad for the T20 World Cup 2024 on Tuesday with Rohit Sharma leading the side and all-rounder Hardik Pandya as deputy.
India are placed in Group A of the tournament alongside arch-rivals Pakistan, Ireland, Canada and co-hosts USA and will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Ireland on June 5 at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York, followed by the marquee clash against Pakistan on June 9 at the same venue. India will then play the USA and Canada on June 12 and 15 respectively.
India Squad for T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Hardik Pandya (Vice Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj.
Reserves – Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan
Complete List of T20 World Cup 2024 Squads
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Star India Players Who Missed Out
KL Rahul – From being the India vice-captain at the 2022 T20 World Cup to missing out completely. The top-order batter could not be accommodated in India’s 15-member squad. He is also a wicketkeeper, so Samson and Pant are the direct competition. India selectors opted for Rohit and Kohli. KL Rahul has scored 378 runs in nine matches, striking at 144.27 but the fact remains, Samson and Pant have been better.
Ruturaj Gaikwad – Currently sitting at No.2 in the Orange Cap list with 447 runs from nine matches and striking at 149.49 with one hundred, three fifties – one of them being a 98; the new Chennai Super Kings skipper did not manage to get call-up. India selectors have gone with Kohli, Rohit, Jaiswal and Gill as reserve but only one of these names have scored more runs in this season of the IPL so far.
Ishan Kishan – Missing Indian domestic games to train for the IPL and then failing to shine with the bat in the tournament, the Jharkhand star should not feel hard done by the Indian selectors. Even though Kishan has 27 T20I games under his belt, the contract termination and time away from cricket have really hurt Kisha. In IPL 2024, Kishan is at the 28th spot in the Orange Cap list with 212 runs in eight matches with only one fifty to his name. He has opened for Mumbai Indians in all those games.
Tilak Varma – Currently the highest run-getter for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024 – with 336 runs to his name at an average of 48 and a strike rate of 158.49, Tilak Varma would have believed he has had done enough. But the fact remains that most of his competitors have done better, especially batters who are senior to him in the national set-up.
Dinesh Karthik – If it is a World Cup year Dinesh Karthik has risen from the grave to be a candidate for selection. Aged 38 now, DK is in his last leg as a cricketer but has shown glimpses of what he can do as a finisher this IPL 2024 and is striking at 195.52. He was part of the 2022 T20 World Cup squad purely based on the stellar IPL 2022 he had, but unfortunately, he did not get many opportunities in the World Cup itself. Indian selectors have opted for younger faces.
Ravi Bishnoi – When Bishnoi made headlines in the 2020 U19 World Cup, he was earmarked as a future India prospect. On the back of consistent performance in the IPL, he was fast-tracked to the national setup as well, and since his debut in 2022, he has featured in 24 T20Is and 1 ODI. However, the youngster had a horrid time when his direct competitor, Yuzvendra Chahal, performed exceedingly well this season. For a wicket-taker bowler, he has only had five wickets at an average of 41.80 in eight matches and has leaked runs at 8.47.