As the countdown continues and the day of the start of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 squad comes closer and closer, the anticipation around Team India's T20 World Cup squad is increasing by the day. Since winning the inaugural edition of the marquee T20 tournament, India haven't tasted much success despite having the world's biggest T20 league and keep churning out talented players year after year.
Having been knocked out of the group stage in 2021 and lost the semi-final in 2022, it felt like the transition button would be pressed as far as the T20 team is concerned. But with the likes of captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja returning to the side in a couple of series prior to the IPL, it seems the BCCI might select the tried and tested side once again even though Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravi Bishnoi, Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma have been identified as some of those for the future.
After the Sunrisers Hyderabad-Chennai Super Kings game in the ongoing edition of the IPL, which might dictate a few selections, former England captain Michael Vaughan was pretty honest in dissecting India's struggle to win an ICC title since 2013 saying that the Men in Blue need to play a fearless brand of cricket and urged the chief selector Ajit Agarkar to make brave calls, even if it means dropping senior players and stars of the side.
"What I'll say to Ajit Agarkar, Don't be scared to be brave. Don't be scared. If he ultimately believes that if the Indian T20 team is better off without a Virat Kohli or a KL Rahul, he wants to go with a fresh set of minds. If he ultimately believes that, then that's how he should deliver the team," Vaughan told Cricbuzz. "Don't fall under the pressure of 'oh you have to pick all the big names'. Because, they haven't been winning the trophies and it might be that a fresher set of minds with no baggage. No baggage from losing in November, no baggage from not doing great in the last T20 World Cup," Vaughan added.
The 49-year-old said that he'd be rather in Agarkar's seat rather than in the selector of a few other teams who don't have enough options to choose from. "I'd rather be Ajit than some of the teams around the world who don't have the talent. He has probably got 30 names that he could put in a bag and you pull out the bowlers, pull out the spinners, pull out the batters and whoever he is going to pull out, I think there are going to be competitive," Vaughan added.
Vaughan taking the names of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul was almost prophetic as both the players found themselves under the scanner in a span of 24 hours for playing innings of 113* (72) against the Rajasthan Royals and 33 (31) against the Gujarat Titans, respectively.
