The return of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to India’s T20I squad for the series against Afghanistan hasn’t fully buried the questions surrounding their future in the shortest format but triggered a few more about the Indian team’s plans for the T20 World Cup 2024. Former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta admitted that he was surprised to see Kohli and Rohit being recalled in the T20I format, having the belief that the management has moved on from them. But their return brings the story back to square one for Dasgupta.
Dasgupta, in a rather blunt assessment of Team India’s T20 plans, said that he doesn’t understand the direction the team is heading into.
“I was slightly surprised because I thought the team had moved on from Rohit and Kohli. The main criticism was the lack of intent from the senior players in the last T20 World Cup. But then again, you need to keep in mind the kind of tracks you are expecting in the West Indies – are you expecting a 180 or 200-run wicket to 160-ish kind of tracks? To be very honest, I do not find any direction here for India in the last one year. If they had to go back to Kohli and Rohit…given the squads we had in the last one year, it is like going back to square one,” he said on Star Sports.
Dasgupta is also of the opinion that Virat and Rohit’s return will see a few casualties in the team, and one of them is likely to be the hard-hitting finisher, Rinku Singh.
“If you look at the team India had against England (in the 2022 T20 World Cup semifinal) and the one against Australia recently, Hardik, Jadeja Bumrah, and Siraj will be back, but the middle-order will remain the same. Kohli will play at No. 3, Surya at 4, Hardik at 5, Jitesh or Samson at 6, then Jadeja and the rest follow. So there won’t be any difference in that middle-order finisher role,” he said.
“Someone like Rinku Singh will miss out. You have to pick one between Jitesh and Samson. I am talking about the T20 World Cup going forward. Rinku and Yashasvi had both impressed a lot, especially the former, because he plays a very specific and unique role and there aren’t much competitors for that spot as well. You will get plenty of top-order batters, but there are rarely batters who can perform at No. 7 or 8. Rinku and Tilak might play against Afghanistan, but going forward, when Hardik and Surya will be available, I feel Rinku and Tilak will both miss out,” he concluded.
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