Updated: 10 October 2022
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022: 3 Major Concerns For Team India Ahead Of The Tournament. Indian cricket team’s ICC T20 World Cup 2022 campaign has started as they have reached Australia for the most awaited marquee event. The 8th edition of the T20 World Cup 2022 will commence on October 16th with the qualifier round. The super 12 stages will kickstart on October 22nd. Team India will play their opening match of the tournament on October 23rd against Pakistan.
The recently concluded 2 T20 series against Australia and South Africa have given some glaring issues, which need to be addressed by the men in blue. Given below are the 3 major issues for the Indian team, as they march on to their mission to conquer this mega ICC tournament.
Also Read: ICC T20 World Cup 2022: India Schedule, Broadcast Channel List, Live Streaming India, And Worldwide
REPLACEMENT FOR BUMRAH
Indian team suffered a huge blow when their premier pace bowler Jaspirt Bumrah was ruled out of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, due to a back injury. The team management has still not announced the replacement for Bumrah. In fact, the squad which flew to Australia on 6th October had only 14 players. They are still to figure out who will be the bowler to replace Bumrah.
There are talks about Mohammad Shami, as a possible replacement. But, he has not played a single T20 for India post the T20 World Cup 2021. Shami’s fitness is also a concern as he has recently recovered from COVID. Some other players’ names are also in consideration such as Deepak Chahar, Mohammad Siraj, etc, but they also seem not fully in the best of form.
Also Read: ICC T20 World Cup 2022: Who Will Win The T20 World Cup 2022
DEATH BOWLING
Death bowling remains the biggest concern for India. With the absence of Bumrah, the bowling line-up looks completely out of track. In the last 3 series, starting from the Asia cup, Australia T20, and South Africa T20, the pace bowlers have leaked runs like water. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Deepak Chahar, everyone has conceded far too many runs.
This issue is a looming threat to the Indian team. The ICC T20 World Cup will have some crunch games, and in that stage, it will become extremely difficult for the bowlers to perform under pressure. The bowlers will have to iron out this issue as soon as possible so that the team does not suffer in the world cup.
Also Read: T20 World Cup 2022: Team List, All Teams Captain, Vice-Captain, And Coach
TOO MUCH RELIANCE ON HARDIK PANDYA
Without any doubt, Hardik Pandya has been the best all-rounder for India in 2022. The way he has performed throughout the year, both with the bat and bowl, is a big positive for India. But, the question here lies, Has the team management relied too much on Hardik Pandya!! Well, if we closely look at the team combination for the T20 world cup, there is only one fast-bowling all-rounder in the form of Hardik.
God forbid, if any injury happens to Hardik Pandya during the business end of the tournament, it will be catastrophic for the team. The injury to Jadeja has already given unwanted stress to the team. They will hope and pray that Hardik remains fit throughout the tournament and also performs as per the expectations.
ICC T20 World Cup squad India:
Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Harshal Patel, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Standby players: Mohammad Shami, Deepak Chahar, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi
