India announced their squad for the T20 World Cup on April 30, with several contenders missing out. Here’s an alternative XI of players who didn’t make the squad, which has the potential to challenge an XI of the selected players.

The squad India have named for the T20 World Cup contains a mix of experience and youth. Rohit Sharma will lead the side, which also has Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, and Jasprit Bumrah as senior players. The most talked about (non) selection has been that of Rinku Singh who has been left out of the 15 after impressing in India colours over the last year. He is, however, part of a group of four travelling reserves, taking the touring party up to 19 players.

For the alternative XI, which excludes those 19 players, we will look at Indian players who have been in and around the periphery of the T20I side, or have recently impressed in the IPL.

Top order (No.1-No.3)

Selected top order batters for the T20 WC: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill (reserve), Virat Kohli, Sanju Samson. 

Among the top order batters not picked, many have been doing well in the ongoing IPL season, including but not limited to KL Rahul, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharshan, Abhishek Sharma, and Prithvi Shaw.

Gaikwad, Rahul, and Sudharshan are the top three run scorers among those players (541, 431, and 391 respectively), but Abhishek’s 326 runs at a strike rate of 195 at the top for SRH makes him impossible to ignore. He’ll partner Rahul as an opener in this XI, providing a left-right combination in the process. While Sudharshan is the designated No.3 for his IPL team Gujarat Titans, Gaikwad has also played at one drop for a few games this season, showing his adaptability. And his 541 runs this season, only one behind the orange cap holder Virat Kohli, makes him a shoo-in for this alternative XI.

Alternative top three: KL Rahul, Abhishek Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad

Middle order (No.4-No.7)

Selected middle order batters/all-rounders for the T20 World Cup: Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Rinku Singh (reserve).

Most batting talents in T20 cricket usually prefer the top order, which explains the plethora of opening options India currently have. However, this IPL season has been abundant with middle order batting talent as well, spread across various roles.

Riyan Parag has finally turned a corner in his IPL career, standing atop the run-scorers’ list for Rajasthan Royals, and batting consistently at No.4. Tilak Varma has already been around the Indian white-ball squads and is only getting better every IPL season in a volatile role at No.4-5 which requires adaptability.

The biggest middle order revelation this season has been the PBKS duo of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma, and SRH’s new pace-bowling all-round prodigy Nitish Kumar Reddy. Shashank came into the season on the back of a controversial episode in the auction, where PBKS supposedly picked him by mistake, only for him to top their run-scoring charts batting initially at No.6 and below, before forcing a promotion to No.4.

Ashutosh came in as an unassuming impact sub mid-way into the tournament and pulled off a heist with Shashank against Gujarat Titans. which brought him into limelight. Since then, he has proved that his first IPL knock was not a fluke. The 20-year-old Reddy, meanwhile, has upgraded his batting by leaps and bounds to be SRH’s designated No.4, while also offering some more than handy overs of seam.

Others like Rahul Tewatia, Rajat Patidar, Shahbaz Ahmed, and Abdul Samad have done decently too. For this alternative XI though, the middle order will comprise of Riyan and Tilak at No.4 and 5, both of whom can be called upon to bowl part-time spin, Shashank at No.6, and Reddy as the floating fast bowling all-rounder at No.7.

Alternative middle order: Riyan Parag, Tilak Varma, Shashank Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy

Bowlers (No.8-No.11)

Selected bowlers for the T20 World Cup: Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Avesh Khan (reserve), Khaleel Ahmed (reserve).

Among the Indian bowlers who won’t be flying for the T20 World Cup, nine have taken 10 or more wickets in IPL 2024 so far, while there have been several others who have impressed even if their wickets tally isn’t excessively high.

Harshal Patel is second on the list of highest wicket-takers so far (17 wickets at 21.29), Varun Chakravarthy is third (16 at 21.88), and T Natarajan is fifth (15 at 21.20). Coincidentally, each of them have represented India already. Among those who haven’t, Harshit Rana (14 at 21.29), Tushar Deshpande (12 at 26), Yash Dayal (10 at 33.80), and Mohsin Khan (9 at 34.56) have been most impressive.

With the alternative XI already having a seam-bowling option and three part-time spin-bowling options in the top seven, it makes sense to go in with a combination of two frontline spinners and two frontline seamers to make up a varied attack that can take on the main India team that has been selected.

Consequently, Ravi Bishnoi and Varun make it as the two spinners, both with the ability to operate across phases, and Rana and Natarajan make it as the two fast bowlers.

Alternative bowling line up: Ravi Bishnoi, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, T Natarajan

Alternative XI

KL Rahul (wk) (c)
Abhishek Sharma
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Riyan Parag
Tilak Varma
Shashank Singh
Nitish Kumar Reddy
Ravi Bishnoi
Harshit Rana
Varun Chakravarthy
T Natarajan

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