India Squad For T20 World Cup 2021: 3 Players Who Might Warm The Bench Throughout The Tournament

India Squad For T20 World Cup 2021: 3 Players Who Might Warm The Bench Throughout The Tournament. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday announced a 15-member squad with an addition of three reserved players of the Indian team that will participate in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in the October-November window.

Virat Kohli as expected will lead the team with Rohit Sharma named his deputy. Tamil Nadu off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the surprising inclusion for everyone as the player played his last match in the format in 2017 against West Indies.

Mumbai Indians duo of Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, who made their international debut against England earlier this year, have been included to bolster India’s middle-order line-up along with Rishabh Pant.

Jasprit Bumrah will lead the bowling attack along with Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy will be supporting Ashwin in the spin department.

However, there were some disheartening omissions from the World Cup squad which no one would have expected in the first place. Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Siraj, and T. Natarajan have missed a place in the squad.

But there are some players in the initial squad who might not get to play a single game in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Let us take you’ll to the list of three players who might be seen warming the bench throughout the tournament.

India Squad For T20 World Cup 2021: 3 Players Who Might Warm The Bench Throughout The Tournament

3) Ishan Kishan

The left-handed batsman has been slotted as the second-choice wicket-keeper in the team and Rishabh Pant could don the gloves in the first place. Kishan made his T20I debut for India against England this year in March.

Ishan Kishan scored 56 in his debut match where he started with a crackling shot off Jofra Archers’ ball to direct the ball towards the fine leg region for a four.

KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma would open the innings with Kohli expected to bat at no.3 and Ishan might contend with his Mumbai Indians teammate Suryakumar Yadav for the no.4 slot else he might get a chance in case Rishabh Pant is rested or gets injured in the tournament.

2) Mohammed Shami

India might plan to field three spinners in most of the games and as Hardik Pandya provides them with the choice of the third pacer, the team management might think of bowling only two pace bowlers and that could be Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah as they have played a lot of white-ball cricket in the last few years.

Shami, who has picked eight wickets in as many games in IPL 2021 so far, last played in a T20 International match against Australia in December 2020. Unless the other two pace bowlers do not suffer through niggles or injuries, Shami might not be preferred as the third seam bowler in the playing XI.

1) Axar Patel

The Indian selectors have very well thought about the conditions in the United Arab Emirates in their mind and hence they have roped in five spin bowlers in the World Cup squad.

Axar Patel had an incredible debut Test series against England at home earlier this year as he picked 27 wickets across three matches and later also got to play in the T20I matches against the same opponents.

But the real question for the left-arm off-spinner is will he make it in the playing XI of the team? With Ashwin’s inclusion, the team management would definitely want to play him with his prominent experience, and youngsters Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy have been pretty impressive with their short stints in the Sri Lanka tour.

Patel played four matches for Delhi Capitals and returned with six wickets, he would have to perform well enough in the second phase of IPL to ensure he gets to play at least one game in the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

Also Read: Chetan Sharma Reveals Why Shikhar Dhawan Was Dropped From India’s Squad For T20 World Cup 2021