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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will reportedly pick the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup 2024 based on player form and fitness during the first month of IPL. It has also been revealed that they are going to monitor around 30 players during the IPL 2024 to finalise the Indian T20WC squad.
The senior players, the captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, are keen to play the T20WC 2024 hence there has been no announcement about the Indian squad for the Afghanistan T20Is. The Indian Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar is slated to arrive in Cape Town during the second Test match between South Africa and India at Newlands, where he will speak to the head coach Rahul Dravid, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli, regarding their T20I plans for 2024, with two national selectors Shiv Sunder Das and Salil Ankola alongside him.
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Notably, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli haven’t played in the shortest format since India lost the semi-final of the T20 World Cup in 2022 against England at the Adelaide Oval. With that, there is no surety whether Rohit and Virat take part in the three-match T20I home series against Afghanistan, the last assignment for Team India in the format before they travel to the Caribbean and the USA to play the T20WC 2024.
Furthermore, with the marquee Test series at home against England set to begin at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on January 25, there will not be much time for Rohit and Virat to rest and recuperate if they take part in the T20I series against Afghanistan shortly before. The workload management has been one of the key aspects as to why these two senior players of the Indian cricket team haven’t competed in the shortest format for the past year or so.
The report from PTI also quoted a senior BCCI source on the condition of anonymity in regards to the T20 World Cup 2024 preparation for India, “Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya aren't fit. The Afghanistan series won't tell you anything. Everything will be decided on the basis of the first month of IPL.” “The BCCI can never tell a franchise to manage a star player's workload unless it's a case of injury management,” they added.
