S Sreesanth picks his India squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup; includes both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli
Former India pacer S Sreesanth has made an early prediction for the Indian squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup. His squad had almost all players from the 2023 ODI World Cup team, including Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
Rohit and Kohli haven't played most of India's recent T20I series, with all-rounder Hardik Pandya captaining the side in their absence. Both senior batters are also not in the squad for the upcoming T20I series against Australia while Hardik is out injured.
"Will Rohit Sharma be playing or not is a big question. He'll be captain because he has won all those IPLs. Either Rohit Sharma or Hardik Pandya will be captain depending on the situation, the surroundings," Sreesanth told Sportskeeda's YouTube channel in an exclusive chat.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was the only new batting addition to the 2023 ODI World Cup team in Sreesanth's 2024 T20 World Cup squad. He didn't include Shubman Gill, though.
The Kerala pacer also included Rishabh Pant in his team but explained that whether he'd be the first wicketkeeper or not can't be ascertained now.
"Rishabh Pant if he's fit should be there as the third keeper because he might need some time to come back to the setup. We need a match-winner not someone who just sticks around. We need a player who is ready to play and win matches. That's as of now. He might be the second or first wicketkeeper depending on form," Sreesanth added.
Pant has been out of the team since December 2022 when he suffered a horrific car accident. He's expected to be back for IPL 2024.
Sreesanth's preliminary 2024 T20 World Cup squad: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Shami, Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja. Mohammed Siraj.
Sreesanth added that he'd like the selectors to pick some youngsters based on their performances in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and IPL.
"A very difficult decision to select the squad" - Sreesanth
The former fast bowler also felt that the selectors would find it quite difficult to pick a squad this year because of the talent on display in domestic competitions.
"In this year's IPL, I think we'll see more youngsters. It'll be a very difficult decision for them to select the T20 squad. There are such youngsters playing, you won't believe. They are so talented," Sreesanth said.
He also named Vishnu Vinod from Kerala and Prabhsimran Singh and Siddharth Kaul from Punjab to be the ones to watch out for in the coming IPL auction.