Cricket World Cup T20 2022 Preview : Preparation for The T20 World Cup squad starts for India

These are the modest figures of white ball events for a team like India that drives cricketing waves across the globe. However, T20 World Cup 2020 witnessed one of team India's worst possible performances and failures, adding to the drought of the World Cup title. 

Since then, the team's and players' performances have been under severe introspection and gained momentum after IPL. Now India is building a new regime for the T20 World Cup in Australia under Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid.

Hardik Pandya - the potential future T20 Captain?

After winning the maiden IPL 2022 title as skipper for Gujarat Titans, skipper Hardik Pandya made a severe case for leading India in future. The 28-year-old all-rounder was allowed to lead the side against Ireland, justifying which he returned by winning the series by 2-0. 

His advent as skipper is receiving praises and support from various former cricketers, and thus he has been chosen once again to lead the pack in the first T20I against Jos Buttler-led England team. Hardik Pandya will be an excellent chance to strengthen his case as a potential future T20 Captain. 

Potential selection for World Cup with BCCI's first-level shortlisting

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the squad for the three-match T20I series against England. This will be India's first series, after which all the first-choice players will be available. However, the selectors have rested the Test cricketers from the first T20I. 

The squad for 1st T20I remains the same as that of the Ireland tour, and then from the second T20I, all the star players (Rohit Sharma, if fit, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja) will return. However, with the return of star players for 2nd and 3rd, the squad saw the drop of three names Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathi and Arshdeep Singh. While Sanju Samson got a chance to play in the T20I against Ireland and justified his position, Rahul Tripathi and Arshdeep Singh remained benched. 

And dropping these three names from the squad against England is the first hint that they might not be selected for the T20 World Cup this year. Their doubtful selection for the World Cup comes from the previous statement by Saurav Ganguly, who said, "Rahul Dravid (Team India head coach) is looking into it. He has been planning to play a settled set of players at some stage. Probably from the England tour next month, we will start playing with players who are likely to play in the T20 World Cup in October," when asked whether it is ideal for rotating players in the year of an ICC event.

This has left their fans fuming. Some fans criticised them for choosing pacer Umran Malik over Arshdeep Singh without giving him a chance to play. Arshdeep did exceptionally well in IPL in death overs, and many former cricketers wished to see him in the World Cup squad, but this seems to be a far case now. Even 'Justice for Sanju Samson' started trending on Twitter after the announcement of squads. 

While Rahul Tripathi, Arshdeep Singh and Sanju Samson's inclusion have now gone into doubt for World cup selection, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Deepak Hooda and Harshal Patel are likely to make their way into the squad. Yuzvendra Chahal is expected to return to the squad after failing to make it in last year's team and an impressive outing in IPL against South Africa and Ireland. These players are getting regular support from the management and are playing games well. In the future, all these players have to do is justify the chance they are getting.

Probably out of the World cup squad- Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathi, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Arshdeep Singh

Probably in the World cup squad- Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Deepak Hooda, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik and Yuzvendra Chahal.