BCCI Announces India T20 World Cup Squad; Kohli, Samson In

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finally announced the much-awaited T20 World Cup Indian squad. The 15-member squad includes Virat Kohli and Sanju Samson and the team will be captained by Rohit Sharma. Hardik Pandya will also return as India’s vice-captain.

Just days after the conclusion of the ongoing Indian Premier League, the ICC T20 World Cup co-hosted by former champions West Indies and the United States will kick start. Unfortunately, Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul was not included in the 15-member list. Meanwhile, after a tragic accident, Rishabt Pant has returned to the Indian T20 squad for the tournament. 

RR opener Yashasvi Yadav is set to open the innings for India with skipper Rohit Sharma. However, Gill is featured in the reserve list of players at the World Cup. Prior to the announcement of the players, speculation swirled around the wicketkeeper selection. But India has entrusted the role in the hands of Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson. This will also mark the return of Pant to the international games after the near-fatal accident in December 2022. 

A big name that was missing from the squad is that of KL Rahul who has been part of India’s last two T20 World Cup campaigns. Though many prominent names were included in the list, what angered the netizens was the exclusion of Rinku Singh. However, the KKR batter is included as one of the reserves. 

Irfan Pathan too has commended on the exclusion of Rinku from the squad on X.

I think Rinku Singh’s recent past performance for Team India shouldn’t have been ignored.

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 30, 2024

Indian squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (Wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya (Vice-captain), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan