India started 2020 with a bang after they got the better of Sri Lanka in the 2nd T20 at Indore by 7 wickets, thanks to the economical spell by Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur. The Indian batters didn’t disappoint and chased down the target with ease.
In the build to 2020 T20 world cup in Australia, India will now play another T20 against Sri Lanka at Maharashtra cricket association stadium in Pune where the fate of the series will be decided. The men in blue will next head to New Zealand to play a five match T20 series for the very first time, starting 24th January. The massive five match series will be a great testing platform for the youngsters, who are yet to cement their place for the world cup squad.
Virat Kohli and company will next play in the Indian Premier League, which starts on 29th March and will go on till the last week of May. They will next head to the islands of Sri Lanka to test their preparations in the shortest format of the game. The start of the spring will mark the beginning of Asia Cup in September, where top Asian teams will battle it out for the coveted title.
50 over world champions England will arrive in September to play a short T20 series after which the men in blue will head to Australia to play another short T20 series before plying their trade in T20 world cup.
VVS Laxman names his India squad for T20 world cup 2020
India will have to find some answers to some of the most toughest question-
1- Will they go with the experience of Shikhar Dhawan, who has scored heaps of runs in ICC tournament or look beyond him and play an in form KL Rahul.
2– Rishabh Pant’s poor keeping technique is a big trouble and his in-consistency has not added value to the team. Will the team management look at Sanju Samson or call back MS Dhoni for one final time.
3- Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s injury has been a chance for players like Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur. The team management now has ample of options in Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar. They have to decide their fast bowling core.
4- Will they play Ravindra Jadeja, who is also handy with the bat or bring back Chahal and Kuldeep to play together.
Meanwhile, former India great VVS Laxman named his 15 member India squad for the 2020 T20 world cup. Interestingly, he opted for KL Rahul to open the innings with Rohit Sharma and ousted Shikhar Dhawan from the picture. For the middle order slot, he picked skipper Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer. Its worth mentioning that he did not pick Sanju Samson, who is warming the bench currently and even the veteran MS Dhoni, who is yet to hang his boots.
He also included all-rounder Shivam Dube in the team alongside Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja. Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal were the two specialist spinners in his team. Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar and Mohammed Shami are the four pacers in his team.
VVS Laxman’s squad-
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Manish Pandey, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
