T20 World Cup: With Harshit Rana Out, Favourites India Work Out Combos For Opener Against USA

T20 World Cup: With Harshit Rana out, favourites India work out combos for opener against USA (Image Source: IANS)

T20 World Cup: Hoping to become the first country to win back-to-back titles and the first team to lift three crowns in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, the Indian men's cricket team will kick off its campaign against minnows the United States, hoping to ride the recent momentum to make history.

Though the build-up off the field has been rocky with the spotlight fixed on the Pakistan and Bangladesh teams because of the shenanigans of their respective boards, the Indian team will be hoping to put all that stuff behind them when it steps into the iconic Wankhede Stadium for their first match on the opening day, which will have three matches on the stove as the tournament explodes into action.

With Namibia, the Netherlands, and Pakistan the other team in Group A, and with the Green Shirts looking set to not play the India match in Colombo on February 15, the Men in Blue have an easy path to the Super 8s.

India, winner of the inaugural ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2007, who added a second title to their kitty in the Caribbean and USA in 2024, is the third country, along with England and the West Indies, to win the title twice.

The Men in Blue get into the 10th edition of the T20 World Cup as firm favourites and have a brilliant recent record to justify being placed on the pedestal. They dominantly won the 2024 edition and have since then gone from strength to strength, rarely losing a T20I match. Though they lost stalwarts like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravindra Jadeja to retirement since 2024, the squad has been refurbished with the explosive opener Abhishek Sharma, the inform Ishan Kishan, and mid-field maestro Tilak Varma stepping in. The result was that India won nine consecutive home series in the shortest format, with the latest being the 4-1 drubbing of New Zealand in a five-match series just before the World Cup.

The nucleus of the squad remains the same, with skipper Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Sanju Samson, and Rinku Singh still making up the bulk of the squad for the 2026 edition. India enjoys an embarrassment of riches in the cricket field, especially in the T20 format, because of the IPL, which is why Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill did not field a place in the World Cup squad, while Rishabh Pant, who was also part of the 2024 team, is out with an injury.

On the eve of the opening match, the hosts suffered a setback with fast-bowling all-rounder Harshit Rana set to miss the opening match because of a knee injury that he picked up during India's lone warm-up match against South Africa.

"He was not feeling good after the warm-up match. He is not ruled out of the tournament, and the physio is currently working with him, but things are not looking good," said skipper Suryakumar Yadav, who jokingly told the media not to fret as they have 11 players to put in the field for the opener.

On the flip side, the hosts have an abundance of riches in batting with batters who look in tremendous form. Abhishek Sharma produced some blistering knocks in the series against the Black Caps, while Ishan Kishan ended the series with a blazing century in Thiruvananthapuram. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav made a welcome return to form with a couple of half-centuries against New Zealand.

Skipper Suryakumar indicated that Ishan Kishan is likely to retain his place in the playing XI and will bat in the top-three as "he can't go below No.3". The team management will have to take a call on whether to get him to open with Sanju Samson dropping to the middle-order or leave out one of the finishers to accommodate both of them. But with Rana set to miss the opener, Ishan Kishan may get the wicketkeeping duties with Sanju Samson, who has struggled a bit in recent matches, relegated to the bench.

Still, the USA is not expected to pose a major challenge for India in the opening match despite the presence of some expatriate Indian and Pakistani players in the ranks. Captain Maunak Patel, Harmeet Singh, Shubham Ranjane, Jasdeep Singh, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Milind Kumar, Saiteja Mukkamalla, and experienced pacer Saurabh Netravalkar are among eight players who trace their roots to India. Harmeet, Shubham, and Netravalkar are products of the Mumbai maidans, where they rubbed shoulders with the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube.

The USA team is made up of a majority of players from the sub-continent, with three players of Pakistani background, while Shehan Jayasuriya played for Sri Lanka from 2010 to 2020, making his T20I debut against Pakistan in August 2015. The left-handed batting all-rounder is a recent entry into the US squad and has good experience of international cricket.

Despite all this, Suryakumar Yadav's side should come through Saturday's clash with ease, thanks to their batting strength and bowling resources, despite the absence of Harshit Rana and the unavailability of Washington Sundar. However, the USA can't be taken lightly as they have caused a couple of upsets to reach the Super 8 stage in the 2024 edition. They were in the same group as India in the 2024 edition.

For India, the Wankhede is a lucky venue as they won the 2011 World Cup here and have usually dominated in the batting-friendly conditions. Things will not be much different on Saturday.

Squads:

For India, the Wankhede is a lucky venue as they won the 2011 World Cup here and have usually dominated in the batting-friendly conditions. Things will not be much different on Saturday.

USA: Monank Patel (c), Jessy Singh, Andries Gous, Shehan Jayasuriya, Milind Kumar, Shayan Jahangir, Saiteja Mukkamala, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Harmeet Singh, Nosthush Kenjige, Shadley Van Schalkwyk, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan, Mohammad Mohsin, Shubham Ranjane

Article Source: IANS