3 Indian players who played in T20Is against West Indies in 2022 but are nowhere near the team now
India will soon play a five-match T20I series against West Indies. The BCCI announced the Indian squad for the upcoming T20I series last night (July 5). Hardik Pandya will lead the team featuring some new faces such as Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar and Tilak Varma.
Many Indian fans would remember that the Men in Blue visited the Caribbean islands for a five-match T20I series against West Indies last year as well. In fact, they played three T20Is in West Indies and the last two in the United States.
India won that series 4-1. Big names like Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja who played in that series have been rested for the upcoming series, while Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant will miss this year's series because of injuries.
While the aforementioned four players will miss the series due to rest and recovery, here's a list of three Indian cricketers who played in the T20Is against West Indies in 2022, got dropped soon after and are nowhere near the setup now.
#1 Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Experienced Indian pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar has not played T20I cricket after the series against New Zealand in late 2022. His last appearance for the Men in Blue came at McLean Park on November 22, where he returned with figures of 0/35 in four overs.
Kumar's performances had been slightly inconsistent in 2022. He managed to stay fit for the majority of the games in the second half of the year, but his form was not the best, and he could not match the fans' expectations in some important matches.
As a result, the selectors left him out of the T20I squad last year. He has not returned to the squad since.
#2 Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin was India's lead off-spinner in the T20I series against West Indies last year. Ashwin scalped three wickets in three matches of that series. The off-spinner played in the T20 World Cup later that year, but was dropped from the side after the loss against England in the semifinals.
Ashwin has remained a part of the Indian Test team, but has not played a single T20I match since the T20 World Cup 2022. Considering that the next T20 World Cup is still a year away, the team management might prefer grooming a younger off-spinner in Ashwin's place.
#3 Dinesh Karthik
Another experienced campaigner to feature on the list is Dinesh Karthik. The right-handed wicket-keeper batter came back to the Indian T20I squad after his brilliant performances for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2022. Karthik had an impressive outing in the blue jersey as well, which helped him become a regular member of the T20I squad.
Karthik played in all five T20Is against West Indies, scoring 66 runs at a strike rate of 132. Like Ashwin, Karthik played his last T20I game in the T20 World Cup and was dropped from the team thereafter.