India can be described as a nation of cricket selectors, especially when it comes to determining the Team India shortlist for the ICC T20 cricket World Cup.
Cricket gurus from all over the country are drawn into a debate about who will be chosen. Fans feel the same way.
The national selectors and head coach will have plenty of ideas on how to go about finalising names. Chetan Sharma, chairman of selectors, and Rahul Dravid, team coach, have been entrusted with the assignment, and their necks are on the line if the chosen ones fall short.
Fans in India who are raving over the Lankan brand of daring cricket under Dasun Shanaka’s captaincy understand that just making it to the final stage was an accomplishment for the champion side; anything else was a bonus.
Without the fear of failure or the pressure to win at all costs, a youthful team was able to express themselves on the field. Little-known names helped to shape their island nation’s identity.
Anyway, Chetan Sharma, chairman of selectors, released a 15-player roster for the T20 World Cup in conjunction with head coach Rahul Dravid.
There will be criticism for failing to learn from the Asia Cup 2022. The reality of team management experiments, involving a couple of players in specialised positions, must be acknowledged.
Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma made certain that no player, no matter how seasoned or skilled, became an indispensable member of the group.
Rotation also helped to manage the workload that each player in contention for a World Cup spot was subjected to.
T20 requires specific talents, and by exposing certain players in diverse positions, Team India tried several mix-match options in series or tournaments, including the Asia Cup, long before the time came to finalise the World Cup 2022 team.
No player was refused a chance. Due to significant injury or recovery from accident or health concerns, experienced hands are unable to participate in competitions…. Instead of panicking, the team accepted setbacks from Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, and KL Rahul.
Replacements for these regulars took advantage of opportunities to demonstrate their mastery of specific duties required by the coach and captain, as part of a bigger plan for how the team will approach pursuing or defending totals.
In their absence, all-rounder Axar Patel, swing ace Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, and stroke-player Suryakumar Yadav secured World Cup tickets.
The majority of the T20 squad was in place, and a few tough decisions have now left India in a situation where the squad appears to be equipped with batting, bowling, and keeping options.
There is some method in the madness with respect to player rotation and team selection, let us wait for the World Cup to get over, before finding holes in the selectors and coach’s reasoning.
For the Indian audience, you can catch the world cup on the streaming platform Hotstar, while everyone can keep a tab on the scores on the cricinfo and cricbuzz websites. If you were to miss live cricket!
