T20 WC 2024: Last Opportunity for the Senior Players

IPL 2023 could be a blessing in disguise for many youngsters because Indian Cricket Team has started to look for future perspectives of the T20 WC 2024 squad by resting Senior Players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul. Hardik Pandya has been leading the T20I setup since after the last T20WC 2022.

It looks like if the senior players Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli do not perform well in the entire IPL 2023 season then most probably these players will be dropped from the squad, just to provide youngsters with an adequate amount of opportunities to prepare themselves for the T20 WC 2024 tournament. And, the next T20 WC 2024 will be played from the month of June onwards (official dates are not announced yet).

Current Indian captain Rohit Sharma and his opening partner KL Rahul‘s performances were below par in the last T20 World Cup 2022. And, Virat Kohli did a great job and ended as the leading run-scorer of the T20 WC 2022 tournament, but his strike rate was the main concern for the first 30-40 deliveries of each of his innings. Then the question arises of who will replace whom from the squad. Let’s have a clear vision of the Top order for the upcoming T20 WC 2024 where we might see most of the changes along with their backups.

Which players will replace whom for the T20 WC 2024?

In the top order, Shubman Gill has been very consistent since he started opening regularly from the start of January 2023. He has registered centuries in each format of cricket in just 3 months. Now, it can be confidently predicted that Shubman Gill has cemented his place in the Indian setup as an opener for at least a couple of more years.

Now, it will be interesting to know if Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul perform well in the ongoing IPL 2023 and when they both come back in the T20I setup, who will open with Rohit.

The next contender is Ishan Kishan, who has been with the squad in each of the formats since Rishabh Pant met an accident and considered Ishan Kishan a like-to-like replacement for Rishabh Pant as a left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman. Ishan Kishan scored a double century in the Bangladesh tour and became the fastest (in terms of deliveries taken) to reach a double century in the ODI format, after this feat Shikhar Dhawan was dropped from the ODI squad. And in T20Is, Ishan has been very inconsistent, and if his inconsistency goes like this in the IPL 2023 as well, which will definitely cost him his place in the T20I squad as well. In test format, he is yet to debut.

Ishan Kishan’s inconsistency might help Yashasvi Jaiswal to secure a place in the T20I setup for the T20 WC 2024 auditions. Yashasvi Jaiswal has improved his strike rate and average both in the domestic and IPL as well since 2022. The best thing about Jaiswal is that he is a left-handed batsman and he can bowl as well, which could be very crucial because he can also be used as a part-timer who can bowl a few overs in the white ball format.

Ruturaj Gaikwad could be another great option for the opening position he is also very good at clean hitting. But earlier, Ruturaj was given enough opportunities in the T20I setup just after the end of the IPL 2022 season, he was not consistent so he was replaced by Shubman Gill in the top order. But, if Ruturaj performs very well in the IPL 2023 his chances will be much higher than Ishan and Yashasvi to open the innings along with Shubman in the absence of Rohit and Rahul.

Rahul Tripathi and Sanju Samson are the two most favorite contenders for the number 3 position in the absence of Virat Kohli from the T20 WC 2024 squad. But, both are right-handed batsmen, and if selectors want some left-handed youngster to bat at number 3 so Tilak Varma could be preferred. Tilak Varma has been one of the most consistent top performers for his domestic side for the last few years, and his IPL 2023 run can help him to get a maiden call-up in the T20I setup of the Indian cricket team.

There’s a huge competition going on between the Indian talents to seal their places in the international lineup. Also, this IPL 2023 season will clear all the doubts about the absence of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli from the T20I or the T20 WC 2024 setup.