‘Barring injury, you shouldn’t make any changes’ – Ajit Agarkar on Team India’s T20 World Cup squad

Former Indian cricketer Ajit Agarkar said that Team India shouldn’t make any changes to their T20 World Cup squad provided injury-related issues don’t crop up in the last minute. In September, India named their 15-man squad and left out the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer and Yuzvendra Chahal. The Men in Blue picked a relatively young squad with inexperienced, but talented names.

However, a few of the players, who are part of the team for the mega event, haven’t quite performed to expectations in the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League. The likes of Ishan Kishan and Rahul Chahar, who both are playing for the Mumbai Indians, have had to sit out. Suryakumar Yadav has also come under the scanner for his indifferent run of form.

Nevertheless, Agarkar reckoned that if the selectors have shown faith on the players, they should stick with it. The retired pacer was of the opinion that the current bunch of Indian players have the potential to find their form going into the World Cup in the UAE.

Things can turn around very quickly, says Ajit Agarkar

“In my opinion, once you have picked the squad for the World Cup, barring injury, I don’t think you should make any changes,” Agarkar was quoted as saying on Star Sports.

“Yes, there are guys at the moment who are not in their great form, but it only takes one innings whether it’s bowling or batting – to change that form around, and that could still happen before the end of the IPL,” he stated.

“So, if you think that’s the best 15 you’ve picked going to the World Cup, my personal opinion, I would stick with it, because you gotta show faith in people even when things are not looking so good, because things can turn around very quickly,” Agarkar added.

The selectors can make alterations to their final squad as the deadline to submit the final 15 names is Sunday, October 10. India are set to start their campaign against Pakistan on Sunday, October 24 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Prior to that, Virat Kohli and Co are also scheduled to lock horns with England and Australia in two warm-up matches on October 18 and 20 respectively.