T20 World Cup places will depend on IPL form, says former India selector MSK Prasad

Former India selector MSK Prasad has stressed on the importance of the upcoming Afghanistan series as the final piece of preparation for the T20 World Cup. The three-match series will be India’s final bilateral series in the shortest format before the T20 World Cup in USA and Caribbean. After the T20 series against Afghanistan, India will play five Test matches against England followed by the Indian Premier League (IPL). “I would definitely prefer to have the best possible team. The reason is that these are the only three T20s that are left before we get into the IPL and get into an actual T20 format. But for the injured players, I think I would definitely have our main players playing in this T20. Let’s not forget that Afghanistan is a very competitive side and will do whatever possible,” said MSK Prasad on Star Sports. India have named a strong team for the Afghanistan series with the highlight being the return of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli . The duo had not played in the shortest format since the T20 World Cup in Australia in November 2022. Since the ODI World Cup, Kohli and Rohit both skipped the T20I series against Australia followed by T20I, ODI series versus South Africa. They returned for the Test series against the Proteas which finished 1-1. “I do understand that Rohit and Virat were given a bit of rest after the South Africa tour. I think that was needed, after a mega event like the ODI World Cup. They needed that kind of a break. So fortunately, they have had a healthy break and have done reasonably well, the youngsters. See, my opinion is there’s absolutely no doubt that Virat and Rohit will be a part of the T20 World Cup, so they should start playing right from this series.” He also added “The question arises, why they didn’t play after the last T20 World Cup. The reason they didn’t play is we were heading towards an ODI World Cup, so we predominantly wanted to focus on ODIs. That’s the reason they offered other youngsters who were maybe thinking towards the T20 World Cup. So that’s a wonderful thing from both of them, and even the selectors and team management have got it right. Because if we are heading towards the ODI World Cup, it is better to focus on the ODIs, and we had the WTC also. So they were focusing on test cricket and ODI cricket. Now that we are heading towards a T20, they should be back to action.” MSK Prasad also spoke on who he thinks may feature in the final squad for the T20 World Cup. He said “I think players like Virat, Rohit, even for that matter, (Mohammed) Shami, (Jasprit) Bumrah, (Mohammad) Siraj, (Ravindra) Jadeja, and Hardik (Pandya), other than those names, there are a few places where I feel players like Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Samson, if KL Rahul is keeping wickets, who is your second keeper? What if Rishabh Pant is fit? What if Ishan Kishan is ready? If we are going to pick him, what order is it? “So I don’t think that we need somebody at the top of the order. We needed someone in the middle order, so if Sanju throws his hat into the selection, all these things will definitely come into the picture. Somebody like Yashasvi Jaiswal or even Shubman Gill, form will definitely be a factor, he’s established but still these are few places which will definitely depend on the form they will exhibit in the IPL. So it’s important they keep ringing the bell so the selectors have a good headache.”