Rohit Sharma to Lead India in T20I Series, KL Rahul Ruled Out

The Indian squad for the T20I series has been announced. The Indian team will be led by Rohit Sharma. Hardik Pandya will be the vice-captain. There are two wicketkeepers in the team. They are Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson. Meanwhile, KL Rahul has been ruled out of the series. Rahul was part of the Indian team in the last T20 World Cup. The T20 World Cup is being co-hosted by the West Indies-US from June 1, while the final will be played on June 29. Captain Rohit Sharma and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar will also address a press conference at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai on May 2 at 4 pm.

Three big faces have been dropped from the Indian team, who were part of the team recently. KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Rinku Singh. However, the BCCI has kept Rinku and Shubman in the travelling reserves. Shivam Dube has been preferred over Rinku. There was a discussion for a long time that if Hardik is selected, then only one of Shivam-Rinku will get a chance. At the same time, one of Yashasvi and Shubman had to be given a chance. The selectors have preferred Yashasvi to Shubman. Yuvraj had also backed the inclusion of Shivam Dube. He had said that Shivam is hitting long sixes and he can make the difference.

The Indian team won the last T20 World Cup in 2007. This was the first version of this format. For 17 years, India has been struggling to win this trophy. The last time, in 2022, India lost to England by 10 wickets in the semi-finals. Now under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, these 15 players will end the 17-year T20 World Cup trophy drought. India last won an ICC trophy in 2013. Rohit and Co. will also be looking to end an 11-year ICC trophy drought. In the 2023 ODI World Cup, the Indian team lost to Australia in the final.

Indian team for T20 World Cup:

Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Shivam Dubey, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

Reserve: Shubhman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khalil Ahmed, Avesh Khan.