New Delhi: The Indian team are fully focussed on winning the ongoing Test series in England. However, both skipper Virat Kohli and the BCCI mandarins are also discussing the roadmap for the upcoming T20 World Cup. The shortest format of the game will be an acid test for Virat Kohli himself. The Indian captain is yet to win any major trophy.
The Test win at Lord’s has certainly released a lot of pressure off Kohli. However, the skipper is well aware that his captaincy future hinges on the team’s performance in UAE. India open their T20 World Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan.
Sources said that BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, secretary Jay Shah and vice-president Rajiv Shukla had an informal meeting with Kohli during the second Test match at Lord’s. Various aspects related to T20 World Cup came up for discussion.
“Yes, BCCI top bosses did meet Kohli. However, it will not be fair to divulge the finer details of the discussion. But with very little time left for the T20 World Cup and India not having any games prior to the (IPL), discussion was more about the roadmap going into the event,” a senior BCCI official said Friday on conditions of anonymity.
India will be playing the Test series against England till September 14. The players will then be busy with their respective IPL franchises. Time is of essence and no wonder that officials had a chat about the big event with Kohli.
Kohli’s performance as a skipper is under scanner. Under Kohli, India have lost in the 2017 Champions Trophy final, 2019 ODI World Cup semifinal apart from this year’s WTC final. Not being able to clear ICC semifinal or the final hurdle has been a cause of concern.
During the past few ICC white ball tournaments, combination has been an issue for the Indian team. This was evident during the 50 overs World Cup in England where they didn’t even have a settled middle order. There were three specialist wicket-keepers (MS Dhoni, Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik) playing the semifinals against New Zealand.
The team selection for the T20 World Cup is slated for some time next month. There are multiple issues that needs to be sorted out including bowling workloads, all-rounder’s position, wrist spinners and the like for like replacements.
There are a few questions that chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma, skipper Kohli, coaches Ravi Shastri and Bharat Arun along with BCCI top brass need to be on same page to prepare a team that can challenge England and West Indies in the shortest format.
It is a given that Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav are not in contention. The question however, is how will Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah’s workload be managed keeping IPL in mind? Will Mohammed Siraj’s red ball form be counted? Will both Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar fit into the same XI if you also have Bumrah and Shami available?
As for spinners who among Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy and Rahul Chahar will join Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja in the spin bowling department? Will Hardik Pandya be able to bowl his quota of four overs? Who among Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer can make it to playing XI?