No KL Rahul? Predicted: India’s 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup

India are currently in the midst of a five-match T20I series against Australia, their first international assignment since their defeat in the 2023 World Cup.

Leading 2-1 after three games, this series marks an important step in their journey to find out the ideal combination for the upcoming T20 World Cup in mid-2024. Here is our predicted India squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup.

India’s predicted squad for T20 World Cup 2024

Openers

Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan (wk)

Yashasvi Jaiswal was a breakout star in the last IPL season which propelled him to an India debut. At the time of writing, Jaiswal strikes at 170 from 10 T20I innings and is one of the few certainties for the T20 World Cup squad unless there’s a drastic drop in form.

Rohit Sharma is still officially the captain of the Indian T20I team, but has not featured in the format since the 2022 T20 World Cup. If he makes himself available, he will, in all probability, lead the squad once again.

Ishan Kishan is the wicketkeeper India have been investing heavily on in T20Is. From 32 T20Is, he averages 25.7 and strikes at 124.4, but his left-handedness gives him the edge over the other wicketkeeping options, KL Rahul and Jitesh Sharma. There’s no certainty, meanwhile, around Rishabh Pant’s availability.

Shubman Gill and Ruturaj Gaikwad are the next two openers in line who can get in the squad if the seniors like Rohit and Virat Kohli decide to move on from the shortest format and skip the T20 World Cup.

Middle order batters

Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh

Kohli’s availability, like Rohit’s is uncertain at the moment. However, if he makes himself available, he will definitely be a part of the squad. No one has scored more runs than him in T20I World Cup history.

Suryakumar Yadav is the No.1 ranked T20I batter in the world and would be one of the first names in any T20 team sheet in the world.

Tilak Varma has progressed steadily since IPL 2022 and is one of the rare left-handed batters available in the country who can bowl as well. He made his T20I debut in the West Indies in 2023, where the T20 World Cup will be held, and was the highest scorer for India in that series.

Rinku Singh has scores of 38 (21), 37 (15)*, 22 (14)*, and 31 (9)* from his first four outings in T20Is. In him, India seem to have found a reliable finisher, who should make it to the T20 World Cup next year.

All-rounders

Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel

If Rohit does not play the T20 World Cup, Hardik will lead the team.

Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel can once again find themselves both in a World Cup squad after making it to the 2023 ODI World Cup squad together before Axar got injured.

India can also consider Washington Sundar in place of either Jadeja or Axar, but with the presence of Tilak Varma, the need for a specialist off-spinner reduces and India might go in with both Jadeja and Axar instead.

Spinners

Ravi Bishnoi

With Yuzvendra Chahal not getting picked for the five-match T20I series against Australia, Ravi Bishnoi has more or less established himself as the first-choice spinner for India in the shortest format. Unless there’s a major reversal of fortunes, he can be expected to lead India’s spin attack in the 2024 T20 World Cup.

Seamers

Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Mohammed Shami

Apart from Jasprit Bumrah and to an extent Arshdeep Singh, India are still a long way off from nailing down their fast bowling spots in T20Is.

India are investing heavily on Mukesh Kumar as a death bowler. From six T20Is, he has an economy rate of 8.26 at the death.

Among the other seamers in line are Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Siraj, and maybe even Bhuvneshwar Kumar. However, unless any of them turn up big time in the IPL, India might as well see themselves going back to the experience of Mohammed Shami for the fourth seamer’s role in the 2024 T20 World Cup.