India and England are using the ongoing T20I series to find their best team for the T20 World Cup.
The good news is that both the teams are close to finding their best XI for the tournament due to take place in India in October 2021.
Let us look at what the Indian team could look like for the T20 World Cup.
Batting
The template for modern T20 batting is to bat deep and bat with intent from ball one.
India will want to have eight batsmen who can hit the ball hard in what will be excellent batting surfaces. These eight will be a combination of pure batsmen and all-rounders.
My selection of batsmen will be Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur.
(Photo by Matt King – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
The above unit has a good combination of right and left handers at the top. All the batsmen are fast-scoring T20 batsmen. If the pitch is a bit dicey, the unit contains technically brilliant players who can tackle that situation.
Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar and KL Rahul will be my reserve batsmen. Shreyas is in top form and can readily replace one of the middle-order batsmen in bad form.
Bowling
Virat Kohli cannot go into the World Cup thinking of just five bowling options in the XI. He will want six players who can bowl at the international level.
The six first-choice bowlers will be Jasprit Bumrah, Thangarasu Natarajan, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya and Shardul Takur.
If the pitch favours the spinners, then Washington Sundar can be looked at in Shardul Thakur’s place, which will not weaken the batting.
(Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
The above bowling unit will guarantee 20 solid overs for Virat. These bowlers understand T20 cricket and have excellent variations to cope in different pitch conditions. The bowling unit also has a good combination of left and right handers.
The above bowling unit is slightly light on spin bowling for Indian pitch conditions. However, we have often seen that medium pacers like Hardik and Shardul are hard to get away when they take the pace off and bowl those cutters.
The ability to mix pace with cutters makes medium-paced bowlers better bets in T20 cricket in India than pure spin bowlers like Yuzvendra Chahal or Rahul Chahar. If dew is a problem, then the case for playing medium pacers gets even stronger.
Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy will be my reserve bowlers.
My final XI
Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Thangarasu Natarajan, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.
After a very long time, India has a squad on paper that can win the T20 World Cup. Virat would hope that his players will stay fit and be raring to go during the tournament.
It is high time that India’s love affair with T20 ended in a grand marriage.
Tsat
Roar Guru
The thing that works for Shardul is his ability to tonk a few..on pitches where the ball grips, Shardul can bowl his cutters and get wickets
La grandeur d'Athéna
Roar Rookie
I agree with the team except one position which is of shardul. He has been very good. But i believe we will need another genuine spinner. So yuzi is in for shardul in my team. Rohit, Ishan,virat, sky,pant, hardik, jaddu, jassi, bhuvi, nat and yuzi.
Sriram
Guest
We have 3 Keepers in Squad. Roshan Pant, Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul
Targa
Roar Rookie
If the likes of Finn Allen, Tim Seifert, and Kyle Jamieson get a bit of IPL game time and do well they could be good options too.
Targa
Roar Rookie
Decent side. NZ just rolled Bangladesh for 130 in the 1st ODI (Boult with 4 wickets) and chased it down for the loss of 2 wickets (and no Williamson and Taylor). I'd rather we win the WTC, but the team for the World T20 I'd like to see is: Guptill, Conway (wk), Williamson (c), Phillips, Chapman, Neesham, Santner, Milne, Sodhi, Ferguson, Boult
Tsat
Roar Guru
Ishan Kishan will keep Paul
Tsat
Roar Guru
Dew could be a big issue..
Paul
Roar Guru
You've named a squad of guys and as you say, there's enough talent to win the WC. Just one question. Who keeps wicket if Pant is injured or, heaven forbid, loses form?
Tsat
Roar Guru
Rishabh is a lefty which helps big time..Iyer is too good to be kept outside the XI..such is the quality of those inside the XI
Tsat
Roar Guru
Yes, earlier start will help for sure..over rate was abysmal in this series..ICC needs to ensure that 20 overs don't take 2 hours
Paul Saikia
Guest
dew should not be much of a problem if evening matches are scheduled early around 6:00 pm or 6:30 pm IST. Also dew is not an issue if matches are held in Mumbai & in the southern venues except Bengaluru maybe !
Ravi
Roar Rookie
England should be recognised for an excellent performance in India in the T20s. By winning 2 matches they hold the number 1 ranking (in T20Is) regardless of the result in the decider. India is arguably the top cricketing nation at present and not many teams can hold their own against them in India. India needed to win by 2 or more games to take the top spot in T20Is In the ODIs india needs a clean sweep to take the number 1 ODI ranking. India is ranked number 1 in tests.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Is dew a problem at the time they play the World Cup? It certainly seems to spoil some games in India, especially if it favours the team batting second and reduces the opportunity for spinners. Your team looks pretty good from the little I saw of the current series. Bringing in Bumrah and Jadeja to the current squad should be a plus.
Ravi
Roar Rookie
Great article Tsat. It’s a very strong line-up, but I’d definitely include Iyer maybe even at the expense of Rishab Pant. He’s a huge talent, but his strike rate is in the 120s after many opportunities. Potential doesn’t cut it in a world cup & Kishan can open & keep. Iyer is consistently an elite batsman and looking better with every knock. My 11 doesn’t change much. It bats to number 10 and is stacked with ‘6-hitters’. 1. Rohit 2. Kishan (Wk) 3. Suryakumar Yadav 4. Virat 5. Iyer 6. Hardik Pandya – Seam bowling all rounder. 7. Ravi Jadeja – Spin bowling all rounder (World’s best all rounder?) 8. Shardul Thakur (big hitting seam bowler) 9. Washington Sundar Spin bowling all-rounder & very good batsman. 10. Buvaneshwar Kumar (Bowling all rounder) 11 Jasprit Bumrah If you include Pant it would be at the expense of Sundar.
IDeals22
Roar Rookie
It's ironic that the dew factor has rendered spin a liability in India. I don't know much about it's onset, except that it seems to get worse at night as time passes. The last match seemed the worst for dew so far. Yet India won (despite bowling second), due to their seamers. Seeing how difficult it was for Thakur to grip the ball in the vital 'death' overs illustrated the advantage England had by winning the toss. On one occasion, the ball slipped out of his hand landing behind him and he lost control, bowling two wides in the last over. Could starting games earlier reduce the effect of due?