IPL 2024 performances not a big influence in team selection for ICC T20 World Cup, says India captain Rohit Sharma

Indian team’s captain, Rohit Sharma, said the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) did not influence the Indian team’s selection for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

The captain, along with chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar, addressed the media in Mumbai on Thursday and the skipper said the selection committee along with the leadership group decided on the core group for the World Cup before the IPL began. The duo made it clear that only one or two spots were needed to be decided during the IPL and they have been done accordingly.

Rohit said it is good to have a squad where everyone has exposure to playing international cricket. “We made our playing XI in your mind and tried to work around it. A lot of the preparation, the talk, everything happened during the IPL and a lot of these guys have been playing this format for a while. It’s not like there is anyone new. They all have been playing international cricket and the IPL. The talk of how our 15 was going to be started much before the IPL. We cannot change our plans based on a few IPL performances,” the captain explained.

Agarkar said the selection committee and the core leadership team were clear that Rohit Sharma was going to lead the Indian team for the World Cup. “Rohit has been a terrific leader. There was a six-month gap between the 50-over World Cup and this one, and we knew we had to make some decisions. There’s no doubt about it. I know Hardik (Pandya) led in a few series, but Rohit has been terrific and he is a great player. It’s not like it was forced upon us," Agarkar said.

Rohit gave an understanding of his mindset about being appointed skipper again. “I was the captain and then not being a captain and then again being a captain. It is part of life. It is that not everything will go your way. It has been a great experience. Before in my life, I was also not a captain and have played under different captains. It is nothing to me. I have always tried to do what is required as a player and that’s what I have tried to do in the last one month too,” he added.

Speaking about Shivam Dube inclusion, Rohit said the call was taken as they wanted someone to play a hard-hitting role in the middle order freely and he was the perfect fit. “We gave importance to good middle-order hitters while picking the squad. Such players give the top-order the freedom to play more freely. So, we picked someone like Shivam Dube who can do that job for us. But nothing is guaranteed about the playing XI yet. We don’t know the conditions yet. We can only decide once we go there,” Rohit said.

The Indian captain added that if Dube is selected in the playing XI, he would have to bowl too. “Unfortunately, Shivam hasn’t bowled in the IPL. I will be expecting that if we want him to bowl a few overs, he will be bowling for us. It is the same with Hardik too,” the captain emphasised.

Rohit said there was no doubt about Hardik Pandya’s inclusion in the team. “As long as he is fit and available, we always wanted Hardik Pandya in the squad, there was never doubt over it,” Rohit clarified.

Although the Indian team has four spinners in the squad, there was a lot of chatter about how there was no off-spinner in the squad, and Rohit addressed the issue. He said: “The reason for having four spinners (in the squad), I won’t reveal now and will reveal it in the West Indies. I personally wanted four spinners and Hardik as a seam all-rounder. Axar (Patel) and (Ravindra) Jadeja being good batters and Kuldeep (Yadav) and (Yuzvendra) Chahal being attacking spinners gives us a good balance.”

Agarkar threw more light on Axar Patel’s inclusion and how he got the nod ahead of seasoned off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. “The discussion was there on whether to have an off-spinner. Unfortunately, Washington (Sundar) hasn’t played any cricket lately. It boiled down to a slot between Ashwin and Axar but Ashwin hasn’t played T20 cricket recently either. Axar was the player-of-the-series against Australia in December 2023, which pushed him ahead,” Agarkar reasoned.

The chairman of selectors justified why Rinku Singh and even Shubman Gill were not a part of the main squad and also said if scoring 220-230 runs in a T20 game is the new normal, the team is up for it. “It was probably the toughest thing we have had to do. He (Rinku) has done nothing wrong, nor has Shubman Gill. It’s again the combinations. Like Rohit said, we are not sure about what conditions we will get. We have tried to have enough options. There are a couple of wrist spinners, Chahal and Kuldeep give Rohit more options. He (Rinku) is still one of the travelling subs. I know it can be a little bit tough on him. I think he missed out because of the team balance. We wanted to play an extra spinner,” Agarkar explained.

Team India for the ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohd. Siraj.

Travelling reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.