Shubman Gill and Avesh Khan, two of the four travelling reserves with the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup 2024, are set to return home after the USA leg of the tournament. As per a Cricbuzz report, Gill and Avesh's travel was only to the States in case of emergency as getting a replacement to America in a nick of time might be difficult. Unless, there is any injury in the Indian camp on Friday, June 14 when the Indian team has its practice session, Gill and Avesh will return home.
Hence, Rinku Singh and Khaleel Ahmed, the other two reserve players will be the only ones to stay with the Indian team for the rest of its campaign. India play their final Group A game in the USA on Saturday, June 15 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida against Canada with the rest of the Super 8 matches, followed by the semi-finals and the final scheduled to be held in the Caribbean.
Gill, who had a mixed season in the IPL leading the Gujarat Titans was far behind in the pecking order as far as the openers are concerned and with Yashasvi Jaiswal also warming the bench, there might not have been any room at the top of the order and similarly with Avesh since Mohammed Siraj is doing well, they might not have required another pacer. Since Khaleel Ahmed is already in the reserves and with surfaces in the Caribbean offering turn, even Siraj might be benched.
India are set to play their remaining matches in Barbados, Antigua and Saint Lucia in Super 8 and if they make it to the semi-finals, then in Guyana. With Afghanistan making it to the Super 8, two of India's opponents for the next round have been confirmed including Australia and the last one will be confirmed on Monday (June 17) morning with Bangladesh and Netherlands in action in their respective final encounters of Group D.
