The lackluster performance of captain Suryakumar Yadav and his deputy Shubman Gill is a major worry, but when the national selection committee selects the 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup in Mumbai on Saturday, it is unlikely to make any unexpected changes.
Until the T20 World Cup begins on February 7, the BCCI is free to substitute any of the listed 15. For the record, Yashasvi Jaiswal was substituted by Varun Chakravarthy during the Champions Trophy earlier this year after sluggish tracks in Dubai were taken into account.
The international tournament in India may be Suryakumar’s final one as the national T20 captain, even though no one in the BCCI is saying so. He has been out of form for the past year and is already 35 years old.
Suryakumar is only maintaining his position because he is the captain after going through a dry spell for nearly 14 months and 24 games.
The committee will also pick the T20 team for New Zealand series, which will be same to the team selected for the T20 World Cup.
While an in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal waits in the wings, Gill’s job has frequently come under scrutiny, but there aren’t currently any openings. It’s unclear if Jaiswal will be named as an extra player for the New Zealand series only to watch him in case he’s needed for the mega-event that India and Sri Lanka will co-host.
Sanju Samson now has the reserve opener spot, but he was wrongly removed from it when the selection committee and a key team think tank member tried to correct something that wasn’t broken.
The selection committee might have considered other leadership alternatives if the T20 World Cup had been six months away. Suryakumar has, however, benefited from an early T20 World Cup and an out of form deputy Gill, who was seen as the all-format captain after assuming command of the Test and ODI teams.
However, no selection panel would want to break the continuity with just five games remaining before the opening World Cup match against the United States of America in Mumbai on February 7.
Jaiswal’s name will almost certainly be mentioned because he has proven to be a more versatile T20 player than both Gill and Samson, even though there is a good chance that the 15 chosen for the home assignment against South Africa will also play against New Zealand and later the T20 World Cup.
However, Gill’s promotion to vice-captain and Samson’s current position as second keeper (Jitesh Sharma is the preferred stumper and finisher) make it challenging for Jaiswal to break into the 15 because he doesn’t fit into any other role-specific spot.
Washington Sundar, who hasn’t yet displayed any fireworks in 57 T20Is, is the only other weak link in the 15. However, he is more of a bowling all-arounder in this format.
With 14 established IPL superstars (aside from Washington), the team appears unstoppable on paper, but two of the top three hitters are dreadfully out of form, which is going to stick out like a sore thumb.
India Likely 15: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (wk), Washington Sundar
Likely Stand Bys (5/6): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Shahbaz Ahmed/Nitish Kumar Reddy, Prasidh Krishna
