T20 World Cup selection committee meeting: The countdown for the World Cup has started. As the date of June 2 is coming closer, the heartbeats are also increasing. Meanwhile, the biggest question is who will be able to make a place in India’s 15 member squad.
New Delhi: The national selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar will meet BCCI Secretary Jay Shah on Tuesday for the T20 World Cup, which is going to start from June 2 in the US-West Indies. The 15-member Indian team will be finalized in this meeting, but the official announcement of the team can be made a day later. The deadline for announcing the squad in the tournament is May 1, however, even after this, changes in the squad can be made till May 25, for which permission will have to be taken from the ICC. This meeting is being held in Ahmedabad due to Jai Shah being busy in the Lok Sabha elections.
Sanju’s name is still not fixed
The position of the second wicketkeeper and the selection of all-rounder Hardik Pandya’s place in the team will be two important points of discussion in the meeting. It is understood that there is still a fight going on for the second wicketkeeper’s spot between Lokesh Rahul (378 runs at a strike rate of 144 in the IPL so far) and Sanju Samson (385 runs at a strike rate of 161). Rajasthan Royals captain Samson has performed consistently well for his IPL team for the first time in more than a decade, but he may not get a place in the Indian team on the basis of batting at number three. Another belief is that Samson, who has scored runs at an average of just 20 and a strike rate of around 135 during 25 T20 Internationals, cannot be included in the team merely on the basis of a good IPL season.
Rahul is facing tough competition. In the case of KL Rahul, it can be said that a senior member of the coaching staff will definitely make every possible effort to include him, but many people believe that the right-handed batsman will be a tough player in T20 cricket. This batsman’s approach is old. However, on slow Caribbean pitches, he is still considered a better bet than Samson at number five or six. Another option, Jitesh Sharma is in very poor form while Dhruv Jurel has not got a chance to keep wickets. In the last match in Lucknow, he got a chance to spend time at the crease and scored a half-century. Left-handed batsman and utility off-spinner Tilak Verma is among the options along with Punjab fast bowler Sandeep Sharma.
