India captain Rohit Sharma and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar held a press conference at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai, addressing the media in the follow-up to India’s 2024 T20 World Cup squad announcement.

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Here are the latest updates and major takeaways.

The India squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was announced on April 30. The squad did not have any major surprises, but the exclusion of Rinku Singh was one of the talking points. Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson and Yuzvendra Chahal marked their return to the T20I setup. Shivam Dube, too, earned a spot.

Hardik Pandya has been named vice-captain, with Pant and Samson being the designated wicketkeepers.

Watch the press conference live here:

Rohit Sharma press conference: Live updates

Rohit: “One thing we really looked at was our middle overs hitting”

“We wanted in the middle overs, someone to come and play that role where he can play freely without worrying about who’s bowling and who’s not. And we picked a guy Shivam Dube based on what he has done in IPL and also the few games that he played before IPL as well.”

Rohit: “I wanted four spinners. Won’t disclose why now”

“We have played a lot of cricket there, we know that the conditions are like. The matches start early. There’s a little bit of technical aspect involved in it. The reason for four spinners is something I won’t say in public now, but I will definitely say it there.”

Read more on it here.

Rohit: We had 70-80% clarity before the IPL

“A lot of the prep, the talk and guys playing game happens during the IPL, plus a lot of them have been playing the format for a while now. What are fifteen is going to be like, started much before the IPL.”

“IPL performances change everyday. You can’t really change your planning around it.”

Agarkar: IPL performers will be taken note of for the future

“You try and plan before the IPL starts. We had a conversations for a few months. If you start swaying by three-four months of cricket, your thinking is wrong”

Rohit Sharma on playing under Pandya, and now captaining him

“It’s part of life. Not everything will go your way. I have not been captain, played under a lot of captains. Whatever is there, you go by it.”

Ajit Agarkar on leaving out KL Rahul

“We were looking at guys who were batting in the middle. We’re looking at Samson batting in the middle. Pant is batting at five.”

5.20pm IST: The presser finally begins.

5.00pm IST: Still no update on the press conference yet. There is expected to be some more delay. The presser was slated to start at 4pm, but the delay has been for over an hour now.

4.45pm IST: Rohit Sharma has entered the headquarters as well. The PC should start anytime now.

4.30pm IST: The PC is yet to begin, with some more delay expected.

4.10pm IST: A new update says that it will start at 4.30pm IST. Visuals show Ajit Agarkar walking into the BCCI premises.

3.45pm IST: Rohit Sharma and Ajit Agarkar will address a press conference shortly, taking questions on the squad announcement.

Live updates will be added here in real time.

Here’s Wisden’s predicted starting XI for India at the T20 World Cup.

India squad for the ICC 2024 T20 World Cup

Batters

Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav

Wicketkeepers

Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson

All-rounders

Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel

Bowlers

Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

Reserves

Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan

The squad announcements for all 20 teams can be found here, updated as and when they are released.

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