3 players who did not make it to India's T20 World Cup squad
Mohammad Shami has not been included in the 15 member squad of T20 World Cup team but has been named as a standby player. Photo: Getty Images
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday (September 12) announced the 15-member India squad for the T20 World Cup in Australia starting next month. The Chetan Sharma-led selection committee didn't make any major changes from the squad that played in the Asia Cup. It's only in the bowling unit that team's senior pacer Jasprit Bumhrah and Harshal Patel have made a return.
However, few players whose names were doing rounds on the social media, and who many thought should be included in the squad, didn't make the cut.
Here are top 3 players who according to us were unlucky to miss out:
1. Sanju Samson: The name of wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson was doing rounds for quite sometime. His name is not even in thesquads for Australia and South Africa T20I series next month. He had a good run with the bat against Ireland where he also scored 77 off 42 balls in a game. In the 16 T20I matches he has played, Samson has an average of 21 and a strike rate of 135.16. He also had a good IPL season where he averaged 28.63 at a strike rate of 146.79.
2. Mohammad Shami: After India's ouster from the Asia Cup following back-to-back defeats against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, it was expected that the most senior bowler of the team might make a return. However, his selection was always in contention as the selectors had previously made it clear that he won't be considered for the T20I squads in the future. Shami has been announced as a standby player for World T20 along with Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi and Deepak Chahar. A standby player is one who is not part of the main squad and will be called to play if a situtaion arises.
3. Ishan Kishan: With KL Rahul just recovering from an injury and not being at his best, the selectors could have included the left-handed batter. Kishan has an aggressive batting style and his T20I batting average is 30 and a strike rate of 131.16. He also had a very good IPL season where he scored 418 runs at an average of 32.15 with three fifties to his name. Even if he was not considered for the T20 World Cup squad, he could have been included in the series against Australia and South Africa.
