3 similarities between India's 2022 and 2024 T20 World Cup squads
The BCCI announced the 15-member Indian squad for the T20 World Cup slated to be held in the West Indies and the USA in June later this year.
There was a lot of speculation regarding the wicketkeeper's position ahead of the announcement, with Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, and Sanju Samson all staking a claim.
In the end, the selectors named the latter two, omitting Karthik, who had been a part of the squad for the 2022 event. Rohit Sharma, as expected, will lead the side, as he did in 2022.
Apart from that, there are a lot of similarities between the squad for the 2022 T20 World Cup and the one announced on Tuesday for the 2024 tournament.
In this listicle, we bring to you three similarities between the squads of the 2022 and 2024 T20 World Cups:
#1 Both squads are both spin-heavy
One of the biggest binding factors between both teams is that they are extremely heavy on spin.
The 2022 squad had the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Deepak Hooda. On the other hand, the 2024 one has the addition of Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja with the exception of Ashwin and Hooda.
That the selectors chose to go with four spinners in the 2024 T20 World Cup is not surprising as the surfaces in the West Indies and USA are known to aid turn.
However, it was extremely shocking that they picked four for the previous one held in Australia, where seamers rule the roost.
#2 They both lack out-and-out finishers
Although the selectors are hoping that the likes of Shivam Dube, Rishabh Pant, and Hardik Pandya play the role of the finisher in the 2024 T20 World Cup, it has to be said that apart from the former, neither has shown glimpses of consistency.
Even Dube, who has done exceedingly well for CSK this season, has batted in the top order on most occasions and has to work a tad on expressing himself in the death overs when the heat is on.
Pant has been in decent nick for Delhi Capitals, but it remains to be seen how well he adapts to the rigours of international cricket once again.
Pandya, however, has been in rather poor form and a lot will be expected from him this time around. In 2022, Dinesh Karthik was present in the side as the only out-and-out finisher, while Rinku Singh's seemed to be a big miss this time around.
#3 They are both heavily dependent on the top-order
As was the case in the 2022 squad, the 2024 one too is heavily dependent upon their top order.
While Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav made up the top order of the 2022 squad, the 2024 one sees Rahul miss out and Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson come in.
This time too, the squad is heavily dependent on their top-order and ball-guzzling early on can come back to haunt them in the death, deprived as they are of quality finishers who can either set up a good platform for them or chase down a massive target.
The squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup has to move away from their dependency on the top order and allow the middle and lower order to flourish as well.