Can India afford to include Rohit, Kohli, Rahul in T20 World Cup squad?
Skipper Rohit Sharma, batting megastar Virat Kohli and KL Rahul comprise India’s top order and a lot depends on their form for India’s success in the limited-overs. It can be said that the Men in Blue are completely reliant on the foundation that is laid by them. However, the Indian team’s worries have only increased with a dip in form of Kohli and Rohit with only Rahul maintaining consistency. Meanwhile, the big question is – Can the selectors afford to include all of these three for the upcoming T20 World Cup?
The 2022 T20 World Cup is only four months away and as of now, only KL Rahul seems to be in form as far as the top-order is concerned. While Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been rested for the ongoing home T20Is against South Africa as part of the workload management, Rahul was ruled out due to a groin injury. He was supposed to lead the Men in Blue, but that was not to be.
IPL 2022 performance
| Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | |
| KL Rahul | 15 | 616 | 51.33 | 135.38 |
| Virat Kohli | 16 | 341 | 22.73 | 115.98 |
| Rohit Sharma | 14 | 268 | 19.14 | 120.17 |
If one takes a look at the trio’s recent individual performances, it was KL Rahul who finished as the second-highest run-getter in IPL 2022 having amassed 616 runs from 15 matches including two centuries. Sharma and Kohli, on the other hand, were totally inconsistent and while the Mumbai Indians skipper managed 268 runs from 14 outings, the RCB great scored 341 runs from 16 games including two half-centuries and three ducks.
More importantly, when it comes to the collective performances of the famed top-order in the last 7-8 months, it was courtesy of Virat Kohli’s valiant half-century that India somehow managed to get past 150 in the T20 World Cup 2021 group fixture against arch-rivals Pakistan where Shaheen Afridi dismissed the other two cheaply. All three failed in the next game against New Zealand which happened to be a must-win encounter. By the time Rohit and Rahul made their bats do the talking, the Men in Blue were already out of the semi-final race.
On the basis of current form, it can be concluded that barring Rahul, the inclusion of Rohit and Virat in India’s T20 World Cup squad is debatable. Not to forget that all these three players have a largely similar style of play as they like to take time before attacking. Therefore, slotting them in one team can lead to a few problems in the shortest format.
