T20 World Cup: The BCCI has just announced India’s 15 members squad for the World T20 in Australia. The team is coming off from a forgettable performance in the Asia Cup 2022 wherein the men in blue couldn’t even make it to the finals. The next big task for the team will be to achieve the best possible results in the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia.
The team consists of some highly talented players in the squad who can really turn any game up on its head. However, there are some players who haven’t been at their best lately in the shortest format of the game but have still been able to make it into India’s squad for the world cup much to everyone’s surprise.
It’s time for us to have a look at three such players who were included in India’s 15 members squad despite having underperformed in the recent matches.
3. Deepak Hooda
Deepak Hooda, who made his T20I debut only in 2022 has been provided with a place in India’s World T20 squad. He took the cricketing world by surprise when he smashed a fantastic century against Ireland in June.
However, the hard hitting batsman wasn’t able to replicate his performances against top-quality teams thereon and majorly failed to deliver any good performance with the bat while batting in the middle or lower middle order.
His recent performances in the Asia Cup wherein he scored just 19 runs in three matches and failed to provide good finishes to the team were certainly not good enough so as to earn him a place in the World Cup squad.
2. Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Another name, which might be a bit surprising to everyone on this list is Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The pacer who was the leading wicket taker in the Asia Cup with 11 wickets to his name was far from his best in several matches.
Despite picking wickets early on, Bhuvneshwar wasn’t effectively able to choke the runs and was being taken to the cleaners by the opposition batters, especially towards the death overs. His conceding too many runs towards the death cost India several important moments and thus the matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super 4 stage.
Is inconsistent line and length is the reason why he wasn’t effective while bowling the crucial overs of the match. His inclusion in the World T20 squad this makes little sense.
1. Rishabh Pant
Possibly the biggest surprise after BCCI’s declaration of India’s World T20 squad came in the form of Rishabh Pant’s inclusion. The left handed batsman has been a major failure with the bat in the T20Is for India in the recent past.
Despite being a world class batsman in Tests and ODIs, Pant has barely been able to replicate his good performances in the shortest format of the game. The fact that he hasn’t been able to boost the Indian innings with big hits in the death overs and thus finish off the innings on a high has cost his team a lot.
His recent performances while batting in the Asia Cup for India too were mediocre wherein he barely managed to score anything above 20. In his three innings, he managed a total of just 50 runs at a strike rate, of not more than 120. Hence his inclusion in the World T20 squad too seems to be out of the box.
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