Focus on ODI World Cup, Indian T20 team set for overhaul | Cricket News – Times of India

Veterans likely to be phased out over the next year
NEW DELHI: The debacle in the T20 World Cup last year was thought to be the lowest point in India’s T20 cricket. The Indian cricket board (BCCI) was prompt to ring in changes by making Rahul Dravid the head coach and Rohit Sharma was anointed the all-format captain after Virat Kohli. The change of guard promised a revamp in how India would approach its T20 cricket looking at this ongoing T20 World Cup.
A semifinal finish this time would sound better than being knocked out in the group stages but it could not be denied that the team management had taken a few steps back going into the World Cup after playing with fresh faces for most of the year.

Dravid asserted that T20 cricket will now take a backseat with the next T20 World Cup still two years away, but one can’t take eyes off how the T20 team will perform over the next year.
TOI understands that a few veterans, who were part of this T20 World Cup, have already been toldthat their T20I career is as good as over. There were too many players in their mid-30s in this tournament. Dinesh Karthik, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami made the cut this year in the last four months. The bigger step would be to phase out big names like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
Sources told TOI that Rohit has been in constant touch with the BCCI officials for a while over his future as India’s all-format captain. For Dravid, his project was three ICC events till 2023—starting with this T20 World Cup, the World Test Championship and culminating with the ODI World Cup in India next October-November.
It is learnt that the focus now is solely on planning for the ODI World Cup. The team management has learnt a harsh lesson of not playing a settled team for a year. It doesn’t want to repeat the mistake next year. Going by that, India would want the senior players, from this T20 World Cup who are in contention for the ODI World Cup, to be available for most ODI matches. There are a handful of T20I games that India will play next year. That would mean the workload of these senior players could be managed by resting them from these games.
That opens up quite a few places in the T20I set-up. Hardik Pandya is the hot favourite for the top job.
Batting overhaul
If Rohit and Virat sit out with Karthik not being considered anymore, the likes Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Samson could get the chance. KL Rahul would need to rediscover his T20 batting form soon to hold on to his place. It will be interesting to see if Rishabh Pant goes up the batting order. Ishan Kishan has been India’s preferred T20 opener in the absence of Rohit and Rahul. If the team management feels Prithvi Shaw has gathered himself off the field, he could be considered too. Samson is likely to be groomed to play the finisher’s role as Karthik was supposed to do here.
The Bumrah dilemma
While much of the scrutiny has been on the batting’s conservative approach, the bowling combination too could be in for a major shake-up. Jasprit Bumrah’s absence due to injury was majorly felt in Australia. But with the pacer struggling to sustain high octane cricket due to a dodgy back, Bumrah may have to give up one format. With the ODI World Cup round the corner, he is unlikely to play too many T20 games for India. A call on his T20 future could be taken after the ODI World Cup.
Interestingly, Dravid and bowling coach Paras Mhambrey had started their stints by having a specialist bowling attack for T20 till the team crumbled in the Asia Cup in September. It’s likely that India will persist with Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj and Umran Malik. Expect Washington Sundar to play a major role in the future. Bhuvneshwar has dropped off the list of contenders for the ODI World Cup. He could be around the T20 team just to lend some experience before the youngsters become finished products.