5 Team India T20 World Cup stars from 2016 who will not play in 2021

The 2021 T20I World Cup is the major talking point in international cricket this year and all teams are strategizing for the event. It will be held in India and is scheduled to start in October. 16 teams will be participating in the tournament, and it promises to be quite an exciting one.

The last edition of the ICC Men’s T20I World Cup was held in 2016 and well, even that took place in India. It was quite a nail-biting affair and we witnessed several stunning matches, and the final was a testament to this.

India played decently and made it to the semi-final before losing to eventual champions, West Indies. Obviously, not all the 15 players who were a part of that squad will be a part of the squad for the upcoming event.

Here’s a look at 5 India stars who won’t be participating in 2021:

1. Ravi Ashwin

Ravi Ashwin will go down as one of India’s greatest bowlers in the Test format, and it is for good reason as he has picked up 409 wickets. While his stocks in the purest format of the game are at an all-time high, the same can’t be said about T20Is, especially after Virat Kohli’s recent comments regarding his future.

When Kohli was asked about Ashwin’s chances of a comeback, he pretty much ruled it out saying that they already had a similar player in the form of Washington Sundar, who has been performing well for the team. However, his statement seemed to be a bit unfair as Ashwin is arguably the more attacking option. This makes it quite difficult for India’s 3rd highest T20I wicket-taker to come back into the mix unless something extraordinary happens.

He has picked up 52 wickets in 46 T20Is at a strike rate of 19.7 while conceding at less than seven. Ashwin was dropped in 2017 in favour of a more attacking combination including Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. He picked up four wickets in five games during the 2016 T20I World Cup, and as things stand his chances of making the squad look quite slim.