Rinku Singh, Ravi Bishnoi give impressive auditions for T20 World Cup, but real test lies ahead

“There is no doubt that Rinku Singh is a contender for inclusion in India’s T20 World Cup squad,” former.

India cricketer and Gujarat Titans coach, Ashish Nehra said during the recently concluded India vs Australia T20I series.

Impressed with Rinku’s performances on the field, Nehra made a compelling argument for the lower-order batter’s inclusion in the World Cup squad, saying that Rinku had kept the selectors interested since his breakthrough performances in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.

Rinku wasn’t the only young gun that impressed in the recently-concluded T20I series. Former opener Aakash Chopra backed Jitesh Sharma to make a strong case for the wicketkeeper’s role due to the absence of Rishabh Pant and heavy competition for Ishan Kishan, who is primarily a top-order player.

Ravi Bishnoi, who won the Player of the Series award against Australia, is also among the frontrunners for a spot in the T20 World Cup squad, the former cricketer opined.

“He is the frontrunner currently, but there will be pressure on him when you get close to the World Cup,” said Chopra.

According to Chopra, pressure will increase as one gets closer to the World Cup. But what is ‘closer to the World Cup’?

6 T20Is Left
India will just play 6 more T20Is ahead of the T20 World Cup 2023. 3 of them will be played in the next tour of South Africa, and the remaining 3 against Afghanistan at home. So, after January 17, the T20I team, which is already in its transition period will not play together till the World Cup 2024, set to begin on June 4, right after the Indian Premier League season.

Sample Size
While players like Rinku Singh, Ravi Bishnoi and Jitesh Sharma might do well in South Africa and then against Afghanistan, one can always argue that if it is a big enough sample size to take a player to the World Cup.

And in case, India do not stick to the current squad in the Afghanistan series, questions will be aplenty about planning and execution ahead of the world tournament.

IPL 2024
The way the BCCI has scheduled things, it can be argued that the selectors will heavily depend on performances from the Indian Premier League 2024 for the final selection of the T20 World Cup. In that case, how much do these performances matter?

The likes of Jitesh Sharma, Rinku Singh and Ravi Bishnoi, who are regulars for their respective IPL teams, will have to have a brilliant tournament to be able to get selected for the Indian team. Given that the Indian Premier League is on par, if not slightly better than the standards of international T20 cricket, the selectors will trust the big-match ability of the IPL heroes.

But, this does come with its downsides.

Both Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma hardly get more than 5 overs per game to go about their business. Being finishers, both Rinku and Jitesh have to play high-risk cricket. Will the selectors be brave enough to pick the two batters based on their intent, in case the two batters fail to put up consistent numbers in IPL 2024?

Delicate Balance

The Indian T20I team is delicately balanced at the moment. The BCCI have made it clear that they wanted both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to play the white-ball leg of the South Africa series. And it was the two stars who requested rest from the BCCI. Both have not played a T20I match for India since their 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final defeat against England. India have built the team around Hardik Pandya and his young turks and one can only hope that they do not abandon the project, 3 months ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024.

A lot of questions have to be answered as India go into their final leg of preparation before franchise cricket takes over. Communication is key at this point, as it was before the ODI World Cup 2023, where coach Rahul Dravid said time and again that they had identified their 15 players way ahead of the tournament.

One hopes that the team management, including the coach and the captain, adopt a similar approach when it comes to planning. All in all, while young India players give their auditions for the T20 World Cup 2024 in the bilateral series, IPL will be the king-maker once again.