The BCCI selection committee, headed by Ajit Agarkar, is expected to meet in the coming few days to finalise the squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup set to be co-hosted by the USA and the West Indies. And there couldn’t have been a better platform than the ongoing IPL 2024 for the hopefuls to prove their capability and form to make the cut.
The selectors though will have a hard time shortlisting a squad of 15 considering the wealth of options available. Their past records and current form will be taken into account when brainstorming over the names and there’s a problem of plenty.
For every position, there are several high-quality options and someone ought to miss the World Cup bus considering the limited numbers.
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Sample this: for the openers slots (two), there are as many as eight claimants including Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan.
Then there’s the all-important debate over the wicketkeepers. Ishan features among these claimants too but is currently lagging behind the likes of Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson and KL Rahul.
Both Pant and Samson have been in fine form this IPL. They have been terrific with the bat and behind the stumps. Add to that, they are the captains of their respective franchises too.
Pant, after spending 15 months recovering from injuries from a horror car crash, has made a remarkable comeback. In 9 matches, he has racked up 342 runs at a strike rate of 161.32 while batting in the middle order for the Delhi Capitals.
On the other hand, Samson, who bats at no. 3 for Rajasthan Royals, has 314 runs from eight matches at a strike rate of 152.43.
When it comes to wicketkeeping, Pant has 13 dismissals (10 catches, 3 stumpings), the most so far in the season to Samson’s 7 (6 catches, 1 stumping) – joint fourth best.
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Rahul isn’t far behind in the mix with 302 runs (strike-rate 141.12) and 11 dismissals (9 catches, 2 stumpings).
Going by the numbers, Pant is leading the race.
Sourav Ganguly, Director of Cricket for DC, reckons that there’s place for both Pant and Samson in the World Cup squad.
While Ganguly is confident that Pant will get the tickets for the T20 showpiece, he refused to pick one clear winner between the DC captain and Samson.
“I love Sanju, I love Rishabh,” Ganguly responded to a CricketNext query.
“Rishabh will go. Sanju might also go. I’m not saying Sanju should not go. He’s as good a player as anybody – keeps, bats, he’s captaining Rajasthan superbly. Both can go if the selectors feel so but Rishabh will (definitely) go.”
‘Axar, Pant, Kuldeep World Cup Certainties’
So who else does Ganguly feel will be on that plane to New York from his DC squad?
“Axar Patel and Rishabh Pant are certainties for me in the World Cup. And it’s just my opinion. Kuldeep (Yadav) too,” the former India captain said.
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Ganguly feels that the inclusion of Axar will lengthen India’s batting and he’s capable of playing the role of a finisher and bash spinners too.
“You know it lengthens the batting. I’m sure someone like Rohit (Sharma), the way cricket is going these days, will want someone coming at 8 to bat and give him those 15-20 runs which Axar can easily do. And, if he needs someone to go in the middle and hit spinners, Axar can do it. That’s the advantage with (Ravindra) Jadeja and Axar. They’re so talented and so gifted,” he said.
Worked on the Pitches
Last season, there was controversy over the kind of pitches DC were playing on at home. The sluggish nature, DC felt, was not helping them maximize their batting potential.
However, this year, in the two matches played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, 199 has been the lowest score across four innings and Ganguly is a happy man.
“Yeah, we worked (on the pitch),” Ganguly said. “As a franchise, we worked a lot hard on the wickets since last year. We realised that good wickets are important. And it (pitch) wasn’t easy when it was slow and low, and turning. So we are very happy with the wickets.
“For me, it’s not just these two months (of IPL) but right throughout the year,” he added.
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