2016 T20 World Cup: Predicted Indian Team

The road to the 2016 T20 World Cup has begun. The last time India played a World Cup at home, they gave a nation filled with cricket lovers a reason to feel proud, a reason to celebrate, a reason to smile. The last time India played a T20 World Cup, they did of all that before faltering at the final hurdle. This time, they would want to go all the way and be the first country to win the T20 World Cup twice. Here, we look at the eleven players who would most likely be given the responsibility to make sure that India again gets a reason to feel proud, to celebrate, to smile.Also read: Indian Cricket Players: Rating Indian cricketers at Asia Cup T20

#1 Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan, unlike many of his Indian teammates has never been a brilliant T20 batsman. Not in the IPL, not in the internationals. During the 2014 T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, Dhawan struggled big time. Three matches into the tournament, he was dropped and never got a game after that.

However, his ability, his knack of scoring runs on the big stage is what would make him walk straight into this team. The Champions Trophy in 2013 and the 50 Over World Cup in 2015, strikes a chord, doesn't it?

#2 Ajinkya Rahane

While Rohit Sharma is a briliant opener in ODI’s, to maintain the overall balance in the team, Ajinkya Rahane would probably open the batting for India in the 2016 T20 World Cup. Rahane, in most respects in better suited to opening the batting , as he has proved in the IPL for many seasons.

He has the game to tackle the new ball, score quick runs and keep the scoreboard ticking. During the last T20 World Cup, it was Rahane who replaced Dhawan, it was Rahane who was India’s accelerator at the top, it was Rahane and not Rohit, who gave the middle order the platform to play fearless cricket.

Given his current form and self belief, he’ll surely do all that is expected of him.

#3 Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli is the backbone of India’s batting in all formats of the game. There’s nothing much you can say about him. According to the latest rankings, he’s the world’s best T20I batsman. Amongst current players, nobody averages more than his 46.28 in T20I cricket.

He scored a mind boggling 319 runs in 6 innings at an average of 106.33 in the last T20 World Cup. He was the man of the tournament. Female cricketers were proposing to him on Twitter. It was a brilliant phase for him, except that India lost in the final.

This time, he would want to make sure he guides India to the title and win the one trophy he hasn’t won as an Indian player.

#4 Rohit Sharma

To compensate for Ajinkya Rahane’s lack of big hitting prowess in the middle order in T20 Cricket, India would most likely be playing the ‘Hitman’ from Mumbai at number four. His success as an opener in ODI’s has often overshadowed the fact that he is an enormous force, batting in the middle for Mumbai Indians in the IPL.

He has the game to hit from the word go, and batting at four would bring out the best in him, batting with the complete freedom to attack, without having to worry about laying the platform as he had done in the previous T20 World Cup. Rohit has never had a brilliant ICC event. This one could well be it.

#5 MS Dhoni (C) (WK)

Captain MS Dhoni is one of the most destructive batsmen the game of cricket has ever seen. Going by this logic, his T20I record should have brilliant, but it’s not. While he averages a decent 33, it’s mostly because of a large number of unbeaten innings. He hasn’t scored a fifty yet.

He strikes at just 116 runs per hundred balls, as compared to 140 in the IPL. It’s almost as if he goes into a shell in T20I’s. For a man of his capability, he bats himself very low in the order. A move up to number four in ODI’s suggest that he may bat higher in T20I’s as well.

After the end of the 50 over World Cup in March, he said he is going to take a call on his future after the World T20 in 2016. If this proves to be his swansong, he will be hell bent on ensuring that India wins.

#6 Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina, the ever consistent number three for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL will, in all likelihood, bat at number six for India in the 2016 T20 World Cup. His big hitting ability, along with his athletic fielding and tidy off spin will be a major asset to India at home.

He would want to bat well in order to push his case for a promotion in the batting order in the coming future. This time, with his bowling also required, he would want to be a major contributor and hopefully win India the title.

#7 Stuart Binny

Stuart Binny would probaly pip Ravindra Jadeja as India’s all rounder in the 2016 T20 World Cup. Jadeja’s poor form, with both bat and ball, over the past year is as much a reason as Binny’s ability for his likely inclusion in the team.

But Binny is a more than decent T20 player, as his time in the ICL and the IPL prove. He has the ability to clear the field in the dying stages of an innings, fields well and can contribute 2-3 overs with the ball as well. All in all, India’s best all round option for the 2016 T20 World Cup.

#8 Axar Patel

Axar Patel is, in most respects, Ravindra Jadeja version 2.0. It’s just that he’s a better limited overs bowler. For two years now, Axar Patel has been a sensation for the Kings XI Punjab in the IPL.

A brilliant economy rate of 6.65 in T20 cricket stands testimony to his prowess in this format. Although his batting has been awful at the international level, his bowling is enough to give him a place in India’s team for the 2016 T20 World Cup.

He didn’t play a match in the 50 over World Cup this year. He’ll be hoping to do well when he does get a chance to represent India in a World event.

#9 Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin has been a revelation for India in Test and ODI cricket. However the same can’t be said in T20I cricket. That defining performance is yet to come.

Ashwin will hope that his new style of bowling- flight, guile and traditional off spin,- will provide him with that defining performance that would help India with the tournament, the way he has helped Chennai Super Kings win the IPL previously.

#10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is a top class limited overs bowler. He swings the new ball miles, he takes wickets, he bowls accurately at the death, he keeps the runs in check, he does all that his captain demands him to.

He announced himself in international cricket with an astonishing spell of 3/9 against Pakistan in a T20 international in 2012. Since then, he has found himself in and out of India’s team. He was phenomenal in the last T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, but played only one match in the 50 overs World Cup this year.

He would want to prove to everyone that he is here to stay, that he is still India’s best limited overs seamer. This tournament would be his chance to do all of it.

#11 Mohit Sharma

Mohit Sharma will probably edge ahead of Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami for the last slot in India’s team for the 2016 T20 World Cup. His consistent performance for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL is a major reason for this.

For three seasons now, he has been their ‘go-to’ bowler, to take wickets, to stop the runs, to do everything. Where he edges ahead of Shami and Yadav is with his clever use of variations, the cutters, the bouncers, the yorkers and probably one of the best back of the hand slower balls in cricket today.

His fielding, comparable to Suresh Raina’s and Virat Kohli’s, is also another factor that makes his case for a spot in the playing XI stronger. Remember AB De Villier’s run out in the World Cup this year. That brilliant throw from deep cover. It wasn’t Kohli, it wasn’t Raina. it wasn’t Jadeja. It was Mohit Sharma.