India since the last T20 World Cup had turned their focus to the 50–over format with the impending 2023 ODI World Cup at home

For almost a year, the two veterans and captains of Indian Cricket, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have not donned the T20 caps for team India due to their busy International and IPL commitments.

Skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have not played a T20I game since November 2022

While there are rumors of the two stalwarts making a comeback for the T20 World Cup tournament, is it time for Team India to look beyond the two stars and field a younger T20 side for the World Cup like what MS Dhoni did for the 2007 inaugural T20 World Cup tournament which India won?

World Cup Win – Eluding India

While India has been almost at a touching distance, the World Cup trophy in the three formats of cricket has eluded them.

The ODI World Cup dream ended in bitter heartbreak last month with India failing to cross the final hurdle against the Champions Australia.

Is it time for an overhaul? or are we reading into the issue hastily?

T20 World Cup – A Golden Chance

While India is recovering from the ODI World Cup Final loss, cricket is ready for the T20 World Cup to be held in Carrebian Island and the USA.

India is considered a tournament favorite but barring the inaugural T20 World Cup win, India has never been able to repeat their 2007 feat.

Not winning the T20 World Cup since the inception of IPL, the most coveted 20-over format league in the world is embarrassing, to say the least.

India’s Preparation for the 2024 T20 World Cup

India in the final preparatory phase for the T20 World Cup, has sent a huge contingent of young players to South Africa to test waters before finalising the World Cup squad for the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup. The Surprise exclusions were the Two Veterans who had opted out. This allowed an opportunity for new talents to stake their claim in the 2024 World Cup squad.

The fragile Hardik Pandya nursing an ankle injury also took time off.  Only Jaspreet Bumrah was rested.

This has led to problem of plenty with more than a few young players with some impressive performance staking their claim for World Cup Selections.

This has now become a problem and a headache.

India has only 3 more International outings against Afghanistan in the T20 Format after the South Africa series to work out their combinations and squads for the mega event.

In the remaining matches, India would need to field a playing eleven that will be a part of the US and the Caribbean in the summer

Jasprit Bumrah, and Hardik Pandya are the only two notable automatic inclusion who are not currently in the T20 squad currently playing against the Proteas.

Inclusion of the Young Brigade

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Mukesh Kumar, and Jitesh Sharma have all done enough to hold their place but places will be disturbed once KL Rahul is back.

Arshdeep Singh, India’s specialist T20 bowler also not impressed much in his outings and India may look to go back to veteran Mohd Shami in case India needs an additional seamer.

End of the Road for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli?

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul have not played a single T20 International.

Should India now look beyond the two veterans even if this looks to be a natural team progression?

While both the veterans were in red-hot form in the recently concluded ODI World Cup, the T20 Format may not be their strongest suit out of all the formats.

Conclusion:

Surya Kumar Yadav in the absence of the regular skippers Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya is currently leading the Indian team against the Proteas. Can team India take the risk to allow him to lead the World Cup side in case of Hardik’s absence?

In the IPL, Indian team members will be playing for their respective franchises and will not get the opportunity to play as a cohesive Indian unit.

The IPL (Indian Premier League) will be the only T20 format tournament for the Indians and it will be interesting to see if changes are made based on the performance in the IPL.

Super Sports View

The exclusion of Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli may prove to be a blessing in disguise for India’s success at the 2024 T20 World Cup but this hardly looks a reality.

Rohit Sharma could still make the cut to lead the side considering the match fitness of Hardik Pandya.

Virat Kohli may still be able to cling on to his Number 3 position for the World Cup as no like-to-like replacement has dominated that batting slot.

It will be a hard call to keep the two most prolific scorers in T20 history to sit out.