BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar revealed the reason behind the board picking Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant over KL Rahul in the Indian squad for the upcoming edition of the T20 World Cup 2024 which is set to be held in the West Indies and USA. He said they made this decision because of the available slots and needed someone who could bat down the order in T20 cricket.
Ajit Agarkar on KL Rahul's snub
Ajit Agarkar revealed that KL Rahul's exclusion from the squad was all because of the combination. As he bats up in the order T20 cricket and with Rishab and Sanju they get the option of experienced batters in the middle order.
“KL has been batting at the top. We feel Sanju has the ability to bat down the order. It's about the slots we needed to fill. That's the thinking behind backing Pant and Samson,” said Ajit Agarkar during the press conference.
“Kl Rahul has been dropped because we needed someone who is playing in middle order or can play at that position,” he added.
India's T20 World Cup 2024 Squad
Hardik Pandya has been named Rohit Sharma's deputy for the upcoming edition of the T20 World Cup 2024. There was a lot of buzz around Pandya's selection over his IPL performance but he will be available for the Men in Blue in the mega tournament.
Rohit Sharma (C), Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya (VC), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
Reserves - Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan.
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