The BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar and Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma took some important questions on the T20 World Cup squad on Thursday. The BCCI recently announced the 15-member squad for the marquee event with some notable absentees in KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Rinku Singh – the latter two are part of the travelling reserves. India’s squad is a spin-heavy one, with four part of the 15. There are concerns over India’s pace prowess with no other pacer apart from Jasprit Bumrah in form. Mohammed Siraj and Arshdeep Singh are the other pacers.
When asked, who is going to partner Bumrah, Rohit said: “5 Tarikh ko match hai, abhi batake kya karu (India’s first match is on June 5, why should I say now.”
BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar also opened up on the decision to omit Rinku Singh. “He has done nothing wrong, even Shubman Gill. There are a couple of wrist-spinners in the team to give rohit more options. Similar case for Axar who is a batting all-rounder. We thought to have another bowling option might be handy. It was tough on him, but at the end of the day we had to pick the team,” the BCCI chief selector said.
Rohit Sharma also said that the decision to pick four spinner was a calculated one.
“I wanted to spinners, there are technical aspects that I don’t want to get into. There’s a reason behind picking 4 spinners. I don’t want to reveal the reason right now. With Hardik in the team, you get the balance of seamers as well. Axar and Jaddu can bat, Chahal and Kuldeep are attacking spinners. Based on opposition’s composition, we can decide the combination. Chahal and Kuldeep can also play together or none of them will. All combinations are possible,” he said.
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
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