The countdown of ICC T20 World Cup 2016 has started now and all the participating teams are gearing up for this massive challenge. It will be started from March 08, 2016 and all the matches will be played in India. As a home side, India had won the 50 over World Cup 2011 (which is happened only once in Cricket history) and now the players are keen to lift World Cup again but in 20 overs.
As the selection for the world cup has been done now and the selectors have tried to put balance in the team with some senior players making comeback while new players will get their opportunities to showcase their talent. Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh are three most experienced players while Hardik Pandya, Pawan Negi and Jasprit Bumrah will definitely look to contribute hugely into the team’s win for the first time at the biggest stage. After beating comprehensively Australia (3-0) and now, Sri Lanka (2-1) in T20 format, India is on a role to become most favourite side to win ICC World Twenty20 2016.
India is a favourite but not just that she will be playing on her home soil but also it has a nice balance of experience and enthusiasm plus with quality leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Yes, the captain will be most key player during this huge tournament. It will be interesting to see how he handles his troops while fielding or jumbling up the batting order. For instance, in the last match against Sri Lanka, he sent Pandya ahead of himself and Yuvraj. It was the brave move but kudos to Pandya that he made the Captain right. Similarly, starting the innings with Ashwin was a clever move because he is the main trump card for India now. I think his captaincy is more important than his batting at the moment.
Ravichandran Ashwin is now like a bowling leader of Indian team. However, an experienced bowling of Ashish Nehra is also there but he is not the regular member of the side. Ashwin can bowl the first over of the match or the last over the match. He has the variety in bowling and by looking at his recent performances in Twenty20 matches, there is no wonder why he is the number one bowler in the world. His performance will decide the fate of the entire team.
When we are talking about the key players of India, especially in the bowling side, for ICC 20-20 World Cup 2016, a new lad - Jasprit Bumrah - will hold the key. MS Dhoni had used him in the death overs and it certainly worked a lot. He has speed and accuracy particularly when he bowls yorkers. After Zaheer Khan, I think he bowls the yorker in the most perfect way. But it is important to use him in balanced way and hope no injury would touch him.
Now, come to India’s batting, which is certainly our main strength. I would like to mention three players as the most important assets of India’s chances. These are: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina.
Rohit Sharma is currently the most dangerous opening batsman in the world when we talk about the shorter formats of the game. He has two double hundreds in his name in ODIs and a hundred in 20 overs match against South Africa. He can play big innings with impressive strike rate. It will be very essential for India to have good start from Rohit Sharma because in Twenty20, there is very short margin of errors for the players and for the teams. Now come to Suresh Raina. He has been dropped from ODI matches due to his lack of form but in Australia and now against Sri Lanka, he has regain his form but India needs more out of him. There is no doubt that Suresh Raina is one of the most destructive batsmen in the world especially in the shorter format. He has quickness between the wickets and he can really play a big shot, which we have seen from him over the years.
Last but not the least, Virat Kohli, who is India’s biggest hope and he has lots of responsibility of taking his team towards winning the World Cup. He has now the Test Captain of India and being the form that he is in, India is surely a favourite side to lift the Cup. Kohli will be a part of India’s team for Asia Cup (after taking some rest) and he is probably the best bet for number three slot of Indian batting line-up. I think I should not discuss about Virat Kohli because we all know about him and he is among the greats of modern cricket.
Indian Squad for ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup 2016:
MS Dhoni (c/wk), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Jaspreet Bumrah, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, and Pawan Negi.
Thus, I have discussed here some names which I think will be the key in India’s success during the upcoming World Cup. If you have different views then please share on the comment box.
All the best Team India!
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