India takes on Ireland in their T20 World Cup campaign opener in New York on June 5 from 8 pm IST. Team India will play their first three games in New York and their final group game in Florida.
Rohit Sharma will lead the Indian team in his second T20 World Cup as captain. He led India in the previous T20 World Cup edition as well taking the side to the semi-finals. India reached the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup under him.
After a forgetful season with Mumbai Indians, Rohit Sharma is now ready to do his best in this T20 World Cup. He has a good and experienced team at his disposal, The BCCI selectors have once again backed experienced players to perform at the biggest of the world stage.
The players picked in this Indin squad are all seasoned T20 players given their experience of playing in the IPL. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will be the two biggest players for the Indian team. A lot is expected from the senior batters.
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Several former Indian cricketers have backed Virat Kohli to open with Rohit Sharma in the World Cup. Some have even asked Rohit to bat at three or four allowing Yashasvi Jaiswal to open with Kohli. The good thing about this Indian squad is that everyone knows their roles and overall the squad has enough depth with both bat and ball.
India Playing 11 vs Ireland- ICC T20 World Cup 2024, Match 8
Rohit Sharma (C)
Rohit will open the batting for India. He gets into good form in ICC tournaments for India and is key to the team’s success. He scored 417 runs in IPL 2024.
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Ideally, Jaiswal should open the batting for India. It will help India maintain the left-right combination. India’s experiment to open with Sanju Samson failed in the warm-up match against Bangladesh.
Virat Kohli
Kohli should bat at his usual position at three. He has batted his best for India in that position and should continue batting at the number. He scored over 700 runs in IPL 2024.
Suryakumar Yadav
SKY will slot in at four. He is the number one ranked T20I batter in the world currently. However, he is yet to perform for India in the ICC T20 World Cups. This is his third T20 World Cup.
Hardik Pandya
Pandyaq will slot in at five. He had a forgetful IPL as the skipper of Mumbai Indians. He has a point to prove now in the T20 World Cup. He scored an unbeaten 40 against Bangladesh.
Rishabh Pant (WK)
Pant will slot in at six. He scored 53 off 32 balls in the warm-up match against Bangladesh. He looked in good form and ran well between the wickets as well.
Ravindra Jadeja
Jadeja will slot in at seven. He is an established T20I bowler. However, he is yet to make a major contribution with the bat. This has always been a topic of debate about his T20I career.
Jasprit Bumrah
Bumrah will lead the Indian bowling attack and bat at eight. He ended with 20 wickets in the IPL. He is back after a brief rest at the end of IPL 2024.
Mohammed Siraj /Arshdeep Singh
One among Siraj or Arshdeep can be the second seamer. The PBKS bowler had a better IPL than Siraj as he ended with 19 wickets as opposed to just 15 by Siraj. Arshdeep also has better control over his abilities than Siraj.
Kuldeep Yadav
Kuldeep should be one of the two specialist spinners in the lineup. He took 16 wickets this season and looked the best of the bowlers for Delhi Capitals this season. His performance has been on the rise for the Indian team.
Yuzvendra Chahal
Chahal concludes the likely XI for the Indian team. Now that he has been picked he should be given games regularly in the World Cup. He was benched for the entire T20 World Cup 2022. He picked 18 wickets this season. He is four short of 100 T20I wickets as well for India.
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