By Niharika Raina New Delhi, Aug 5 : With India’s T20I series against the West Indies set to end on Sunday the selection committee for senior males is scheduled to announce the team for 2022’s Asia Cup, a major event in terms of selecting the team for the Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia in October.
Although there is a home T20I series against Australia and South Africa respectively in September following the Asia Cup, it is likely that the team, that plays in the all-Asian nations tournament is the one that is selected for the T20 World Cup.
Captain Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik are certain-shots in the batsmen department.With the possibility of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul re-joining the squad to play in the Asia Cup, it should complete the batsmen’s line-up.
Hardik Pandya as well as Ravindra Jadeja are undoubtedly certainties as all-rounders with the leg-spin of Yuzvendra Chahal and off-spin of Ravichandran Ashwin mixed with the speed of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.If Harshal Patel is back to full fitness after recovering from a the injury to his ribs, he becomes a sure thing too.
With the mentioned 13 players as sureties, the focus shifts on the players to make up the group of fifteen.In terms of potential alternatives in the bat department, Deepak Hooda and Ishan Kishan are ahead of Sanju Samson and Shreyas Iyer.
Hooda has made the most of every T20I/ODI chance that was that was given to him this season whether it was opening the bat at the eleventh hour or smashing a century as the third batter.In recent times, he has also given an example of his capacity to keep the ball in check with his off-spin that is part-time when the all-rounder is called upon to provide some cost-effective overs.
Kishan On the other side has experienced a mixed experience as an opener in T20Is this year.However, with Kishan’s knowledge of opening the batting and securing wickets in place, he might be the backup opener, as well as the wicket keeper in the team.
But the choice of his depends on whether the Indian team would like a back-up option in spin and pace bowling.
As a matter of speed-bowling options left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh has made a huge argument for himself with impressive performance in his opportunities that he’s had until now, well ahead of another youngster in Avesh Khan.
Due to his capability to hit yorkers in the final overs, and his ability to show shrewdness in changing lengths to make the most of batters, Arshdeep is surely in the mix.
However, with Deepak Chahar returning to the ODI squad for a series against Zimbabwe which implies that the pace bowling slot will be an inverse choice between him and Arshdeep.
Before he was forced to withdraw due to injuries, Chahar was India’s go-to bowling option in powerplay.With Bhuvneshwar performing good, Chahar may get a slight advantage over Arshdeep due to his batsmanship skills particularly his ability to score sixes.
In the field, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav are the top contenders.However, with Axar as a comparable alternative to Jadeja and Kuldeep and Bishnoi as a wrist spinner, the choices of any of the trio will reveal what Indian selection committee is considering in terms of alternative options for back-up.
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