‘India underprepared for T20 World Cup’: Dravid, selectors sent ‘haunting’ message over Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma acts

After an impressive outing at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Saturday, where India won their only warm-up game for the T20 World Cup against Bangladesh, the Rohit Sharma-led side are all set to kick off their campaign on Wednesday at the same venue against Ireland. Amid the discussions in the build-up to the match and the league phase which has largely pertained to the possible line-up India might feature, a former cricketer has sounded the alarm bells in questioning India‘s preparation for the T20 World Cup as he pointed his fingers towards Rohit and Virat Kohli.

Speaking on his YouTube channel on Monday, Aakash Chopra questioned why India, who are among the favourites to lift the trophy, are still figuring out their playing XI for the World Cup. While he identified a possible line-up based on the conclusions he drew from the warm-up game, he felt that each player should have been told about their respective roles well ahead of the World Cup and not when the tournament begins.

He said: “Are India underprepared for yet another T20 World Cup? Aren’t we still figuring out our batting line-up? Who is the opener and the finisher? Should we get to know all these only in the World Cup? Yes, India like a left-right combination, but are almost certain to go with two right-handers: Rohit and Kohli. Rishabh Pant will likely bat at No. 3, followed by Suryakumar Yadav, and their dismissals will depend on whether India will next send Shivam Dube or Hardik Pandya. Then Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. There are a lot of left-handers. But my question remains, why are we getting to know about this now? Shouldn’t it be ideal that we should have known the opening combination by now?”

The former India opener further drew comparisons with India’s previous T20 World Cup squad from the 2022 edition saying that the probable line-up is almost the same before criticising Rohit and Kohli’s decision to stay away from the format between the previous ICC tournament and December 2023. While the two seniors stayed away from the format due to their preparation for the ODI World Cup, Aakash felt that it led to India being less prepared for the T20 tournament.

“Since the end of the last T20 World Cup in 2022, we have been playing with almost the same XI and the same batting order. So, what have we changed? And the roles that have changed, none were informed about it. It’s not ideal. And it is because none of the senior players played since the last World Cup. I strongly feel we lack proper preparation. We are still trying to address it. We do have individual brilliance, but what happened last times was that we created a scene around the opening position. Between the World Cup in the UAE and Australia, we tried so many options for the opening role, including Suryakumar Yadav. But eventually, we opened with Rohit and Rahul, Kohli at 3…absolutely no use. That came back to haunt us. It’s an early warning, but we haven’t prepared well,” he said.