Indians are raving about the exploits of some players in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), particularly the pinch hitters who have set the score-boards on fire. 

These include the likes of Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markram, the trio who spearheaded the batting revival of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH); Jake Fraser-McGurk, the 22-year Australian sensation who is run-machine for Delhi Capitals (though omitted from the Australian T-20 squad); Marcus Stoinis remaining the bedrock of Gujarat Titans batting; Phil Salt and Sunil Narine, the latter redeeming himself as pinch-hitter all-rounder; and Quinton De Kock and Nicholas Pooran who have continued their T-20 fireworks in IPL 2024 as well. 

Joining their ranks with spectacular performances is a handful of uncapped Indian players including Abhishek Sharma (SRH), Sai Sudarshan (Gujarat Titans), Prabhsimran Singh, Ashutosh Sharma and Shashank Singh (Punjab Kings) and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (KKR), Riyan Parag (Rajasthan Royals), and so on. Not to disappoint were the established players including Shivam Dube, Rituraj Gaikwad and yet-to-retire veterans like M.S. Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik. 

While Mayank Yadav became the bowling sensation of IPL 2024 along with Harshit Rana, veterans like Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and even Bhuvneswar Kumar made significant impact in the ongoing season.    

The troubling part about this description is two-pronged: 

(a) All the majestic batters mentioned above are in the other teams that will take on India with complete exposure to India’s batting lineup at the upcoming ICC T-20 World Cup; and 

(b) Only 2-3 of the above-mentioned players figure in the Indian squad for the World Cup with the line-up populated more by star value than performance. 

Stardom drove the selections?

The highlight of the Indian squad announced on 30th April is that it largely comprises players who are high on star power but have proven to be gasping for breath in the dog-eat-dog game that T-20 has evolved to be. But for a few additions and subtractions, it is the same Indian squad that miserably succumbed to England, which out-scored the Indian challenge with not even a wicket to lose in the previous ICC series in 2022. 

The squad is again led by the establishmentarian captain, Rohit Sharma, who, despite a hard-earned century in the ongoing IPL, is at his poorest form and height of inconsistency. By no standard does he seem to be fit to lead a team with world-class talent waiting on the bench. 

The designated vice-captain, Hardik Pandya, is also going through a miserable season when Mumbai Indians hit the nadir under this captaincy. The supposed rift with his predecessor, Rohit Sharma, the intense animosity shown by the fans, and his poor form with both bat and ball hardly make him fit to be even considered for the squad. And yet, the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) went ahead with not just selecting Pandya in the squad but also placing him as deputy to Sharma, despite the bad ongoing vides. 

It is surprising why BCCI did not consider Sharma’s other MI teammate, Suryakumar Yadav, who had a successful stint as India’s T-20 captain in the series against both Australia and South Africa in 2023 – a feat that led even the ICC to nominate him as captain of its world team. The fact that the BCCI has overlooked this successful outing of Yadav, who is also the top-ranked T-20 player in the world, and preferred to retain Pandya as the deputy speaks much about not just the tardy decision-making process at the Board, but also possible external influences in favour of some players. 

The other star player with questionable credentials to play in the T-20 World Cup is Virat Kohli, whose visibly self-serving performance at the IPL 2024 is the subject of much ridicule. Kohli’s slow run-rate has served his personal record much at the expense of his team, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). In the current scheme of things, Kohi is as much a misfit as Rohit Sharma to represent India in the T-20 World Cup. 

The squad selection was also criticized for the exclusion of in-form batsmen like K.L. Rahul and Rituraj Gaekwad who could have easily been replacements for Sharma and Kohli at the top. Similarly, the inclusion of Mohammed Siraj in the squad, despite a drastic dearth of wickets in the ongoing IPL season at the cost of younger talents Mayank Yadav or proven death-over bowlers like Harshal Patel, Bhuvaneswar Kumar or Sandeep Kumar is proof of entrenched thinking that is seemingly influencing the Board’s decisions. 

However, the Board has come under much fire for excluding Rinku Singh, whose lack of bowling skills led to his placement in the reserves even as Shivam Dube made it to the squad with his bowling ability seen as a valuable addition to his spectacular pinch-hitting. While both Dube and Singh can find space in an ideal squad, reports blame the omission on Rohit Sharma’s insistence on 4 spinners in the playing eleven.  

While Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan might have lost out on the race over the Board’s ire on the Ranji Trophy matter, their inconsistent form during the ongoing IPL season also offers no consolation for these star batsmen. 

The wicket-keeper choices seem to have been influenced by the performance of two high-performing keeper-captains in the IPL – Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson – it remains a fact that K.L. Rahul also qualified to have been considered if this was the criteria. It could seem that Rahul’s effort to be in contention as a wicket-keeper, by preferring to keep the wickets for his team, could have cost him his place which could have been brighter as an opener. Yet, as mentioned, Rahul and Gaekwad could have been sacrificed in the effort to give a farewell outing for Sharma and Kohli. 

Pant’s selection as first-choice keeper, on the other hand, was a foregone conclusion going by the preferential treatment given to him by the Board on his return from injury. The BCCI had retained Pant in the Tier-A contract even before the latter played any tournament after recovery from the grievous injury. 

Consequently, other than a few additions like out-of-form Yashaswi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson and Ravindra Jadeja, who missed the last World Cup due to injury, the current squad is largely a repeat of the same key players who miserably lost out to England in the 2022 semi-final and dismal show in the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup. In other words, it would be unreasonable to expect wonders from a team with great star power but gasps at the last mile. Or, to put it mildly, the BCCI has squandered an opportunity to bring home the T-20 marquee trophy by prioritizing star value and seniority instead of building a team with budding talents who could have played with sheer abandon like Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team of 2007.  

The lessons of the 2007 T-20 world cup

 On the 7th and 8th of August 2007, the BCCI announced two Indian squads – the first for the T-20 World Cup and the other for the ODI squad for the 7-match series with England. The striking part of the announcements was that the stalwarts of Indian cricket at that point including Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Saurav Ganguly as well as frontline bowlers like Zaheer Khan figured in the ODI squad but were omitted from the T-20 World Cup squad. 

While the incumbent captain of the national side, Rahul Dravid, was to lead the ODI side, the BCCI announced Mahendra Singh Dhoni as captain of the T-20 team which comprised the younger players of the national team including recent debutants. To declare a national team for a World Cup series without the troika of Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly was then like sacrilege. Yet, the BCCI took that bold step realizing the demands of international T-20 games were different from the other formats and needed a younger profile. 

In fact, the oldest in the T-20 squad was pacer Ajit Agarkar at 29 years, followed by Virender Sehwag at 28, Harbhajan Singh at 27 and M.S. Dhoni at 26 years. The rest were 25 and below with Piyush Chawla being the youngest at 18 years and followed by the current captain Rohit Sharma at 20. Virat Kohli did not even figure in the squad. The opening T-20 World Cup was also an opportunity to try out a new skipper, in the form of M.S. Dhoni.   

With the stalwarts missing, the Indian squad under Dhoni was probably the most underrated team at the tournament. Yet, the team performed exemplarily and brought home the inaugural ICC T-20 World Cup after a nail-biting finish in the final against Pakistan. The success at the T-20 World Cup paved the way for the transition of captaincy to Dhoni in all formats, a decision that proved to be one of the landmark movements for Indian cricket. Besides following up the 2007 feat by winning the 2011 ODI World Cup as well, Dhoni has been one of the most successful captains in Indian cricketing history. 

After the shocking defeat in the semi-final of the 2022 T-20 world up when England overcame the Indian score without losing a single wicket, it was assumed that the international T-20 cricketing careers of many of the veterans including Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, will be over. It seems the Board has been swayed by the sentiment of endowing a farewell international T-20 series for Sharma and Kohli despite their uninspiring performances in the ongoing IPL. 

Lost in the process was a golden opportunity to repeat the 2007 feat by sending a young team to the Americas led by either Suryakumar Yadav, K.L. Rahul or Rishabh Pant. Such a radical decision, like in 2007, could have provided for a youthful team with pinch-hitters and high-performance pacers.

With the IPL providing the likes of Cummins, Head, Stoinis, Markram, Pooran and De Kock, among others, good exposure to the Indian bowlers and exposing the vulnerabilities of the top-end Indian batters, their team managers could have their game plans ready for their respective outings with India. Though Australia has surprisingly decided to omit Jake Fraser-McGurk from the ICC World Cup squad, there might be many more McGurks waiting to spring a surprise for the Indian players, who will hardly manage to catch their breath from the IPL season before being pushed into the world cup matches. 

Come the first week of June, the Indian cricketing fraternity and fans can only hope for miracles to happen at the ICC venues in the Americas.