The BCCI made the much-anticipated announcement of India’s squad today (April 30), one day before the deadline for the preliminary squad announcement and one month before the start of the tournament. Here are the five key takeaways from India’s squad.

India’s squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup

Main squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar Yadav.
Reserves: Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Shubman Gill, Avesh Khan.

Key takeaways

Overall lack of bold choices

There’s a good chance that India’s top seven might look almost exactly the same as that in the 2021 T20 World Cup barring the absence of KL Rahul. Seniors Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have yet again been entrusted with helming the responsibility of the top order, while Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja have both made the cut despite showing indifferent recent form. Mayank Yadav has impressed with his speed in IPL 2024, but he has not been punted on, and neither has Harshit Rana, another success story from this season’s IPL. India have also gone back to Yuzvendra Chahal over Ravi Bishnoi, who until recently was the first-choice spinner in the T20I side.

No designated finisher in the absence of Rinku Singh

Rinku Singh has been kept as a reserve, with Shivam Dube being preferred over him for his consistent exploits in the IPL as well as the additional option he provides with the ball. This means that India will head into the T20 World Cup with no designated death overs pace-hitter. Pandya and Jadeja have essayed that role in the past and along with Axar Patel, will be expected to do the same again. But neither Pandya nor Jadeja is in any sort of finishing form in the IPL. Their hitting abilities, particularly against pace, have waned. They will need to be back to their best if India are to rest assured as far as their death overs are concerned when batting.

Rinku Singh in T20Is:

356 runs @ 89, SR: 176.23

He has not been picked in the T20 World Cup squad! pic.twitter.com/0EVySoCEO8

— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) April 30, 2024

One spinner too many?

India have picked four spinners in the squad: two left-arm orthodox all-rounders in the form of Jadeja and Axar, one leg-spinner in Chahal, and one left-arm wrist spinner in Kuldeep Yadav. An argument could be made for one less spinner in the side. Pitches in the Caribbean are expected to be slow and offer some assistance to spin, which must have forced the selectors’ hands, but it’s rare to go into white-ball tournaments with more or same number of spinners as seamers in the squad like India have this time around (four spinners vs four seamers including Pandya). Another concern is the lack of an off-spinner and the presence of two left-arm orthodox spinners who aren’t a whole lot different from each other in terms of skills and the position they usually play at.

Thin and out form fast bowling resources

India’s four fast bowlers for the World Cup are Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, and Pandya. Except Bumrah, none of the three seamers have an economy rate of under 9.5 in IPL 2024. While run-scoring has been at an unprecedented high this season, more than the numbers, it’s the lack of control and consistency from Siraj, Arshdeep, and Pandya that will be a cause of concern for India. Avesh Khan and Khaleel Ahmed have been kept as reserves, neither of whom have a lot of T20I experience. In short, almost all of the bowling responsibility will fall on Bumrah’s shoulders once again.

Room for being creative

While there aren’t many surprises and bold inclusions or exclusions in the squad, there’s a lot of wiggle room to construct various types of XIs from the fifteen players that have been chosen. Kohli can be used at No.3 like he has been in T20Is, or can be pushed to open like he does in the IPL. Sanju Samson has been in phenomenal form at No.3 for Rajasthan Royals. He can slot in at his preferred position with Kohli opening, with Shivam Dube being fitted in the middle order to take on spin. India can also consider playing all three all-rounders – Pandya, Axar, and Jadeja – at six, seven, and eight, to increase batting depth. They will also have the option of going with a three seamers-three spinners combination, or a four seamers-two spinners combo. And of course, they can always fall back to the tried and tested batting order of the 2021 T20 World Cup with the only change being Yashasvi Jaiswal taking over KL Rahul’s place as opener.