Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are back for the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. This comes as a surprise after Team India invested a lot in young players to replace the veterans and rebuild a new look team after the last T20 semifinal loss.

This article will discuss whether Virat Rohit’s comeback has derailed or strengthened the 2024 T20 World Cup Campaign.

Presented By: Raghunath Nair

Introduction

Another ICC Knockout failure in the T20 2022 Semi-Final World Cup followed by the recent ICC ODI final loss has made Team India, the new ‘chokers’ in the cricket world.

The jinx of ICC knockout loss continued with the men in blue in the ODI World Cup Finals. But the loss of the 2022 T20 Semi-Finals was even more painful due to the manner team India capitulated against the English Team.

England went on to become the 2022 T20 World champions beating Pakistan in the Finals.

The Embarrassing WT20 Semifinals loss

The manner of defeat embarrassed the entire nation. Like in previous ICC Knockout games, the Indian bowlers just did not show up and were taken to the cleaners by England who chased a modest total.

After the loss, questions were raised about the last-minute changes made in the World Cup squad and how the team did not evolve and play the format like other successful teams.

Not winning an ICC T20 World Cup after the inaugural one is a worrying one. No World Cup Trophies after the IPL was introduced, was a cause of concern to all.

Questions were asked if team members had become superstars and if the hunger for a T20 World Cup had diminished due to the IPL.

While the batsmen largely did their job in the tournament, it was difficult to pick one match in the tournament that the bowlers won for India. The only team India could bowl out was Zimbabwe.

Bowlers did struggle in the tournament but went unnoticed due to India’s batting. but when the infamous Indian Batting lineup had an off day, the tournament was over for Team India.

With the bowling squad performing below par, the pressure was always on Indian batsmen to deliver big. Because in T20 matches, targets can be steep but never considered unachievable. 

The win against arch-rivals, Pakistan gave India false confidence in playing the T20 format conventionally by keeping wickets in hand.

This Strategy backfired and got completely exposed, first against the South Africans and then in the all-important Semifinals.

After the 10-wicket semi-final loss, a new look Indian T20 team was being looked at. Changes were imminent.

Many experts pinned the T20 loss to a conservative batting style. A fearless batting approach was to be adopted and a new look Indian team was being built next for the 2024 T20 World Cup to be held in the West Indies and USA.

New WT20 Cycle and a new approach

The Indian selection committee and BCCI were in extreme pressure to overhaul the entire team.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul, the team’s 2022 World Cup squad took breaks from the format. They remained unavailable till December 2023.

In the bowling department, Ravichandran Ashwin and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar were dropped and new bowlers were tested in the past 2 years. Jasprit Bumrah made his comeback from a long injury layoff

In the batting, new batting combinations were tried which comprised of Sanju Samson, Yashaswi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad.

The middle order was to continue as Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, and Ravindra Jadeja walked into the 2024 World Cup probable.

Hardik Pandya captained the team in Rohit’s absence but was never officially made full-time captain of the T20 national team. Even Surya Kumar Yadav captained the team in Hardik Pandya’s absence due to his fragile fitness.

India is currently playing their last few T20 Internationals before the IPL and the upcoming T20 World Cup to be hosted in the West Indies and USA.

India did manage to unearth talents like Rinku Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Mukesh Kumar who may get a call in the final 15.In the spin department, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravi Bishnoi cemented their place.

Yuzvendra Chahal remained surprisingly ignored.

The team was being rebuilt to take on the 2024 T20 World Cup challenge. But just a few months to the T20 World Cup, why have the selectors gone back to accommodate the two veterans back in the squad?  

Selectors back the two veterans, Virat and Rohit

With few months to go for the T20 World Cup, Rohit Sharma and Virat – Kohli are back in the T20Is squad and are part of the Afghanistan T20 Series.

The decision to fall back onto the old guard after almost two years of investing and nurturing fresh talent has put the cat amongst the pigeon.

Now with Virat – Rohit back in the mix, the places of a few youngsters in the team are in jeopardy.

The pressure of the World Cup has prompted the selectors to go back to the veterans, especially after their brilliant performance in the recently concluded ODI World Cup, which saw India reach the finals.

Do not be surprised if you see KL Rahul also in the mix soon.

The Fitness of Hardik Pandya and his consistency in getting injured just before a major tournament may be one of the reasons for this move.

Hardik Pandya has been out of action since his ankle injury in the ODI World Cup.

Along with the remainder of the World Cup and to date, Hardik has been missing in the playing eleven.

Hardik was the replacement captain in T20 Internationals in Rohit’s absence. Hardik’s Injury woes have kept the selectors worried.

Hardik missed the five-match T20I series against Australia at home, the three-match T20I series in South Africa, and the current one against Afghanistan.

Jasprit Bumrah, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, and KL Rahul all were put up to lead the side in Hardik’s absence.

The lack of this stability has prompted the selectors to fall back onto their two most trusted servants of Indian cricket.

It is obvious from the selector’s view to allow the young talents to play a fearless brand of cricket under experienced seniors.

But with KL Rahul also a possible selection, may only give 2-3  spots for the youngsters.

This means India is going to the 2024 World Cup with similar names from the 2022 squad.

In the 2023 ODI World Cup, Rohit Sharma captained the side brilliantly and his presence in the team had a calming effect on the team. Moreover, he has changed his batting style of play to an ultra-aggressive one. This may give the license to the young Turks to also play fearless cricket in the T20 World Cup.

Another reason could be due to the pressures of the broadcasters who would need the two big Indian brands in the team for marketing.

Rohit and Virat are still the leading run-getters in T20Is with 3,853 and 4,008 runs, respectively.

SuperSports360 View

Rohit Sharma is in the team purely for his captaincy prowess. He is well-liked in the Indian camp and does well under pressure for the team. A lack of captaincy option is one major reason, Rohit Sharma finds a place in the squad. His last 2 IPL seasons have been poor and his record in T20 format is not as impressive as his ODI Stats.

Virat Kohli has been a brilliant batsman in all formats but again the T20 format is not his strongest format.

While both the veterans have runs under their belt, the new-age T20 squads need players to have a 150+ strike rate.

The inclusion of the two veterans is necessary for Team India to manage the young players in the squad.

In the past few years, to find the right young talent, head coach, Rahul Dravid erred in accommodating too many youngsters to represent the country based on IPL performance. In the bargain, not enough game time/matches were offered to individual players.

While it is manageable in a bilateral game, selecting a young player with just 10- 20 International match experience for an ICC event is repeating the same mistakes of 2022. 

India will not go into the tournament as favourites.

With couple of months to go for the mega event, Team India is yet to decide on their 15 members’ squad.

Will there be a few more surprise additions to the team after this year’s IPL performance?

Conclusion

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli bring in a wealth of experience and this will also allow the veterans to have a final shot at the World Cup title which has eluded the stars for a long time.

We believe the duo would retire from T20 Cricket after the World Cup and this allows the youngsters to stake claim on the vacant positions post the World Cup.