Top 5 talking points from Rohit Sharma and Ajit Agarkar's press conference on T20 WC 2024 squad selection

Rohit Sharma-led India will play their first T20 World Cup 2024 match on June 5.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the 15-member squad for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024 on April 30. The selection panel named Rohit Sharma as the captain, with all-rounder Hardik Pandya serving as his deputy for the upcoming tournament.

However, the selection panel made some bold moves as they left out T20I regulars like Rinku Singh and Ravi Bishnoi, who had performed well in the last year or so. Senior cricketers like KL Rahul and Ravichandran Ashwin, who were part of the last edition in 2022, also didn’t get a place in the side.

The Indian cricketing board added a few new faces to the 15-man line-up: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, and Shivam Dube received call-ups into the side for performing well for in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).

Just two days after the announcement, former cricketer and current chief selector of the BCCI Ajit Agarkar, along with skipper Rohit, held a press conference to address selection calls regarding the Indian squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. On that note, let’s take a look at the biggest talking points from the presser.

Here are the top 5 talking points from Rohit Sharma and Ajit Agarkar’s press conference

1. Rohit Sharma laughs off question on Kohli’s strike rate

During the press conference, one of the reporters asked a question about senior batter Virat Kohli’s strike rate, which has been a concern according to a few. Indian captain Rohit Sharma laughed off the question from the reporter.

However, responding to the same question, chief selector Agarkar said that there’s no point discussing it as Kohli is in great touch in the ongoing IPL 2024.

“About Virat Kohli’s strike rate I don’t think we have been discussing it. No look, he has been in great form fortunately in the IPL. No concerns there at all. With regards to what’s going in the IPL you’re still going to a World Cup. It’s still international cricket, there’s still that gap there. You’ve got to prepare knowing that there’s that gap there,” said Ajit Agarkar.

2. Ajit Agarkar reveals reason behind KL Rahul’s exclusion

One of the biggest exclusions from the team was senior batter KL Rahul, who was vice-captain of the side in last edition in 2022. To clear all the doubts regarding his selection, chief selector Ajit Agarkar addressed the reason behind not including KL Rahul in the squad.

When Agarkar was asked about the exclusion of wicket-keeper batter Rahul in the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup 2024, the BCCI chief selector explained that they were looking for batters who could bat in the middle-order. As KL Rahul was opening for Lucknow Super Giants in the ongoing IPL 2024, he wasn’t considered. Whereas, Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson booked their spot as wicket-keepers.

“KL Rahul is a terrific player, we all know that. We were looking for middle order options. At the moment KL bats at the top in IPL. Rishabh not opening the innings. Sanju has the ability to come down the order if needed.” BCCI chief selector said.

“Rishabh is batting at no.5 in Delhi and this was the thinking behind backing Pant and Samson. It wasn’t whether KL was better or these guys were better.” Agarkar added.

3. “Hard decision” to leave out Rinku Singh

One of the boldest moves taken by the BCCI selection panel was to not pick in-form lower middle-order batter Rinku Singh into the squad for ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Rinku has been a consistent performer for India since his debut and for his IPL franchise for the past two years.

However, he couldn’t make it into the T20 World Cup 2024 squad as Shivam Dube and Axar Patel were picked ahead of him. Reacting to his omission from the Men in Blue line-up, the BCCI chief selector added that the 26-year-old cricketer hasn’t done anything wrong, but he was left out because the team wanted to go with extra spinners.

“Not his fault Rinku Singh missed out. He did nothing wrong and Shubman Gill as well for that matter. It was all about the combination we wanted to go with. We wanted to go with extra spinners. Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep give us that,” BCCI Chief Selector said.

4. Shivam Dube to bowl

During the press conference, Indian captain Rohit hinted that all-rounder Shivam Dube, who is having a phenomenal run for the defending champions Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2024, will bowl some overs in the T20 Worked Cup 2024.

“Shivam Dube not bowl any overs in this IPL but he bowls a lot of overs in domestic Cricket. He knows how to bowl. He will bowl some overs in T20 World Cup for sure,” Rohit on Dube’s bowling.

5. Reason behind selecting four spinners

The selection panel has picked four spinners for the T20 World Cup. Indian all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel will support Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in the spin bowling department. However, during the press conference, Indian captain Rohit cleared the air around decision of picking four front-line spinners in the squad.

“I wanted four spinners. Match starts at probably 10-10:30 am in the morning. There’s a little bit of technical aspect in picking four spinners. Probably will address during the world cup. And three seamers with Hardik being the fourth. You get the balance. With two spinners – Jadeja and Axar – allrounders can bat. We will decide our combinations depending on the opposition. There’s a chance both Kuldeep and Chahal play together. All sorts of combination possible,” Rohit Sharma said during the press conference.

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