T20 World Cup 2024: India look to end a title drought

In the evergrowing T20 cricket format India has the richest and mostwatched league in the world Yet all that investment and attention hasnt translated into international success for Indias national team Rohit Sharmaled India will travel to the USA and the West Indies for the T20 World Cup 2024 to end their ICC trophy droughtThe Indian Premier League is full of cash and talent which attracts the best cricketers across the globe After winning the T20 title in 2007 in South Africa Team India has only managed to reach one more final losing it against Sri Lanka in 2014The hunt for the title crosses formats too The Men in Blue last won an ICC title in 2103 Champions League in England The last ODI World Cup title won by the Indians was in the year 2011Last year was exceptional in that sense India lost the World Test Championship final to Australia in England and a few months later also lost the 50over World Cup final to Australia this time on home soilThat caused major anguish in a cricketmad country of 14 billion considering India was on a 100 winning streak and a hot favourite going into the finalSharma has been a part of every Indian squad at the T20 World Cup Kohli debuted in the 2012 edition making this his sixth attempt at the titleAlso ReadIPL 2024 Virat Kohli hugs Dinesh Karthik as latter receives guard of honourSo far Kohli has represented India in 27 T20 World Cup games and has amassed 1141 runs at an average of 8150 and a strike rate of 13130 Rohit on the other hand has featured in 39 T20 World Cup games in which he has scored 963 runs at a strike rate of 12788Both players missed all of Indias T20 internationals between the 2022 semifinal loss in Australia and January of this year leading to some speculation theyd miss out on the T20 World Cup 2024 starting June 1That was dispelled by both BCCI secretary Jay Shah and chief selector Ajit Agarkar Now there will be a big focus on their contributions in terms of runs and strike rateIn the IPL 2024 representing Mumbai Indians Rohit scored 417 runs Kohli on the other hand enjoys the top spot on the list of leading runscorers in the IPL 2024 In 15 matches he has scored 741 runs at an average of 6157 Despite being the leading runscorer his strike rate was criticised by cricket punditsDuring the press conference while confirming the Indian squad Ajit Agarkar rubbed out the questions raised on Kohlis strike rate saying that theres a difference between international cricket and IPLYou need experience as the pressure of a World Cup game is different You only try to take positives from what is happening in the IPLKohli opens the batting for his IPL franchise but goes in at No 3 for India in T20s It has led to a significant debate over his batting position for the T20 World Cup 2024 because it holds the key to Indias XIWith Yashasvi Jaiswal in the squad should Virat Kohli continue to bat at number three as Jaiswal will play the role of the opener with Rohit Sharma India will then have to play with only four specialist batters including Suryakumar Yadav the Worlds number one T20I batsman Followed by allrounder Hardik Pandya firstchoice wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant and bowling allroundersIf Kohli opens with Sharma it allows for an extra batter in the middle order and likely makes room for Shivam Dube who has impressed selectors with his power hitting in the IPL 2024 and a strike rate of 16229 Dube can also bowl useful medium pace if needed and could provide backup to PandyaPace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will lead a bowling attack containing four spinners including leftarm allrounders Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel Wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzendra Chahal complete the lineupI asked for four spinners Sharma explained Most of our matches will start at 1011 am and we expect allrounders to do a job for us It gives us a variety of combinations to explore depending on the oppositionIndia begins its T20 World Cup 2024 campaign against Ireland on June 5 then faces fierce rival Pakistan in New York on June 9 in what could be the highlight of the group stage India will play the US on June 12 and Canada on June 15While it is a seemingly straightforward road for India in the first round the tension to end a prolonged title drought will grow once it reaches the West Indies for the Super Eight stageWith AP Inputs