20-20 World Cup 2022: Three players who might be dropped from India's playing XI

The 20-20 World Cup 2022 campaign for team India will start on October 23, Sunday against Pakistan and the team faced off against Australia on October 17 in a warm-up match. The current Indian team is new and many fresh faces are on their first tour to Australia. 

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The Rohit Sharma-led team will look to turn things around from the previous edition of the World Cup where they bowed out in the group stage. India are in fine form after their T20I series win against Australia and South Africa and the team would look to carry on the momentum in the showpiece event. 

However, we decided to handpick three players who might be dropped from India's team sheet in the 20-20 World Cup on the back of their poor run of late:

1) Deepak Hooda

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Deepak Hooda (Image Source: Twitter)

Deepak Hooda made it to the Indian squad after knocking on the doors of the selectors with his mighty domestic performances. However, the allrounder went out of the radar in September and his last game came against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup in September. 

Hooda was ruled out of the recent series against Australia and South Africa due to a back injury and underwent rehabilitation at National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. For the unversed, the player averages around 41.86 in the shortest format of the game and a strike rate of 155.85. With Axar Patel in the squad, the team management might go with him if they need a spin allrounder. 

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2) Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin (Image Source: Twitter)

Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the greatest when it comes to the Test format. However, the veteran off-spinner is not at his very best in the T20I format and the only reason he is in the squad might be to contain runs in the powerplay if needed. 

Although Ashwin’s experience might give him an edge, Yuzvendra Chahal, who is playing his first 20-20 World Cup, might get a go-ahead most of the time. Also, the team has Axar Patel in the squad and the spin duo might be preferred over Ashwin’s know-how.

3) Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant (Image Source: Twitter)

Concerning Rishabh Pant, the player himself might not know what is going wrong with him. The Indian wicketkeeper has faded of late and he is yet to play an impactful inning for team India in the shortest format of the game. 

Although he is the go-to wicketkeeper batter for team India in the longest format, the rise of Dinesh Karthik as the potential finisher has put Pant’s emergence in T20Is on hold. As it stands, Pant averages only 24.02 in the format and has only three 50s from the 52 innings that he has played so far.