Rohit to lead India's T20 World Cup campaign; Sanju, Chahal in, Shubman & Rinku miss out on main squad

Like the proverbial old wine in a new bottle, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selection committee, headed by Ajit Agarkar, plumped for Rohit Sharm as captain for the ICC T20 World Cup.

- S KANNAN

Minus intrigue or suspense, the inclusion of Virat Kohli, indeed a marquee player, and the return of Rishabh Pant in the 15-man squad has shown the selectors preferred not to experiment too much when the team was named in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

Selecting Team India for any major competition is a bit like pollsters trying to predict what will be the outcome of the ongoing General Elections to choose the Members of Parliament for the Lok Sabha. The only difference, voting through social media, which had hinted at the exclusion of “senior” or “veteran” cricketers has been smashed out of the park.

The kind of bilge being peddled on social media in the last few weeks over the team selection has been hilarious. Rohit Sharma was described as “over the hill” and Virat Kohli as someone who does not know how to play spin. Worse, Kohli, having scored 500 runs plus in IPL 2024, was being taunted for a poor strike rate.