'Was Toss-up Between Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh With Hardik Pandya Also in India's T20 World Cup Squad': BCCI Source

Hardik Pandya was named as vice-captain for the Rohit Sharma-led 15-member squad that will represent India at the T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and USA, scheduled from June 1 to 29.

Hard-hitting batter Shivam Dube also made the cut following a strong Indian Premier League (IPL) showing for Chennai Super Kings but Kolkata Knight Riders’ big-hitting Rinku Singh was relegated to the reserves.

“There was a lot of debate over Hardik’s place in the squad while Samson was not debated much. Rinku was just unlucky. It was a toss-up between Dube and Rinku with Hardik also in the squad,” a BCCI source told PTI.

India Squad for T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Hardik Pandya (Vice Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj.

Reserves – Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan

Complete List of T20 World Cup 2024 Squads

India, who have had disappointing campaigns in the previous two World Cups due to their conservative batting approach, needed to make a few bold calls to stake a claim for an elusive ICC trophy.

Picking Dube ahead of Rinku Singh is a bold call in that aspect considering the latter had done no wrong since making his India debut in August last year.

Before the IPL, Rinku, who has a strike rate of 176.23 in 15 T20Is, was considered a certainty in the India squad but selectors have preferred the six-hitting skills of Dube in the middle-order.

To be fair to the left-hander from Mumbai, he has been in sensational touch in the IPL and also flaunted his power-hitting prowess in India’s last T20 series in January.

Hardik’s leadership has come under the scanner in IPL 2024, as he replaced India skipper Rohit Sharma at the helm for Mumbai Indians.

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India will begin their World Cup campaign against Ireland on June 5 at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, followed by the marquee clash against Pakistan on June 9 at the same venue. India will then play the USA and Canada on June 12 and 15 respectively.

(With inputs from Agencies)