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The BCCI declared India's 15-man squad for T20 World Cup 2024 a few hours ago. The selectors met in Ahmedabad to finalize the team and the announcement was made via a press release as well as social media posts.
The biggest surprise from the squad announcement was Rinku Singh's exclusion. Despite having an average of 89 and a strike rate of more than 175, Singh failed to find a place in the Indian squad. Another notable exclusion was of Ruturaj Gaikwad, who led India to a gold medal win at the Asian Games last year.
Many such talents unluckily missed out on a place in the Indian T20 World Cup 2024 squad. Here's a playing XI of such players.
Openers - Ruturaj Gaikwad (c) and KL Rahul (wk)
Ruturaj Gaikwad will lead this side and open the batting with wicketkeeper KL Rahul. Interestingly, the two batters are present in the top 7 names with the most runs in IPL 2024. However, they did not find a place in the T20 World Cup 2024 squad.
Rahul was the deputy skipper of India in the previous T20 World Cup, whereas Gaikwad led the team in the Asian Games T20I event. Both aren't a part of the reserves list as well.
Middle Order - Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, and Jitesh Sharma
After the T20 World Cup 2021, Venkatesh Iyer was believed to be Hardik Pandya's successor as India's lead pace-bowling all-rounder. However, Venkatesh could not make the most out of the opportunities he got. Pandya has returned to the team and is now the vice-captain of the T20I team.
Deepak Hooda played for India in the T20 World Cup 2022. He has been performing decently in IPL 2024, but the selectors ignored him for the mega event. Tilak Varma impressed straightaway in the shortest format of the game. It looks like the selectors want him to gain more experience before picking him in the squads for big tournaments.
Rinku Singh's absence from the squad raised many eyebrows. With the boards having permission to make changes to the team for the next few weeks, expect Rinku to find his way into the final 15.
Jitesh Sharma's mediocre IPL 2024 seems to have ended his T20 World Cup 2024. The wicketkeeper, who is known for his intent, is not even on the list of standby players.
Bowlers - Harshal Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, T Natarajan and Mukesh Kumar
Harshal Patel has proven himself as a wicket-taker with the ball. He warmed the benches in the T20 World Cup 2022, and two years later, he is not even present in the squad for the mega event.
Ravi Bishnoi was the World No.1 T20I bowler not long ago. He is still in the top 10 of the ICC T20I Rankings, but the leg-spinner lost the race to Yuzvendra Chahal for a place in the T20 World Cup 2024 squad.
The lead pacers of this side will be T Natarajan and Mukesh Kumar. Both bowlers have taken 13 wickets each in IPL 2024. Natarajan has done a phenomenal job for the SunRisers Hyderabad. Unfortunately for him, Arshdeep Singh, and Khaleel Ahmed pipped him in the left-arm pacers' category.
