5 Indian players who might be surprisingly axed for T20 World Cup 2020

It’s the start of a new decade and the T20 World Cup 2020 is set to start in October. This year’s World Cup hosted by Australia promises to be bigger and grander than ever, with 16 teams locking horns for the trophy.

The last T20 World Cup was played in India where the West Indies won the trophy, courtesy a Carlos Brathwaite special in the last over of the final, against England. But things have changed quite drastically over the last four years. The current West Indies side is not even a reflection of the side that won *that* thriller in Kolkata. Pakistan, in spite of being the no. 1 side in ICC rankings, has seen a lump in its performance in the last year or so.

India, England and Australia will start the tournament as favourites to win the cup. The Men in Blue, however, will have to make some tough choices before heading to Australia for their quest for the Cup. India is a country of more than a billion people and hence there is no shortage of cricketing talent. But in the end, only a few of them will get a ticket to Australia this year. So, let’s discuss five players who might be surprisingly axed from the T20 World Cup squad.

1. Shikhar Dhawan

There was once a time a few years back that Shikhar Dhawan, the 34-year-old left-handed batting genius from Delhi, was indispensable for India. He, together with Rohit Sharma, made a pair that could take away any morale from the opposition. His strike rate of 128.27 is often criticized, but he provided India with a much needed right-left combination at the top order.

A veteran of 60 international T20 matches, Dhawan last played a match in this format in January this year against Sri Lanka. During the India-Australia ODI series that followed, he hurt himself in his shoulder and hence was ruled out of the limited-overs series against New Zealand.

His absence was filled by KL Rahul, who was the highest scorer in the 5-match T20I series with 224 runs to his name. Considering that Rahul is only 27 years of age and has a brilliant strike rate of 146.1 in the format, there is a high probability that he may be the first choice opener for India in the coming years. If that’s the case, India might well leave out Shikhar Dhawan from the T20 World Cup Squad.