It's still some months to the start of the 2020 World T20 in Australia, but batting great VVS Laxman has revealed his India squad, featuring five batsmen, one wicketkeeper, three all-rounders, two spinners and four pacers. (More Cricket News)
Notable players who failed to find the 15-member team were former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, opener Shikhar Dhawan and wicket-keeper Sanju Samson.
Laxman revealed the team during a show on Star Sports.
For Dhoni, the tournament is possibly the best swansong tournament. The legendary wicketkeeper is currently taking a sabbatical and many believe that the BCCI will give Dhoni a chance to bow out in style. After all, he's the first-ever captain to lift the World T20 trophy.
Dhawan, who's making a comeback after an injury lay-off, lost his spot to KL Rahul, who will open the innings with Rohit Sharma.
The team, to be led by Virat Kohli, has two more specialist batsmen in Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey; but there's only one wicketkeeper in Rishabh Pant. In case of any untoward incident, Rahul will keep the wickets for India.
Samson, who's been in and out of the Indian squad without getting game time, is often considered a better wicketkeeping option than Pant.
Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja are the all-rounders, while Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav are the spinners in the squad.
The bowling attack will be lead by pacer Jasprit Bumrah. Mohammed Shami, Deepak Chahar, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are other pacers.
Here's the squad: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Meanwhile, Kohli has hinted that Karnataka pacer Prasidh Krishna could be a "surprise package" going into the T20 World Cup.
With Bhuvneshwar (sports hernia) and Chahar (stress fracture) out for a considerable period of time, India will look at that extra pacer's slot and the skipper naming unheralded Krishna, who was a part of India A squad during 2018 England A tour, looks to be in with a good chance.
"You'll have to figure out who are the people that are very similar in their bowling skills, and you pick the senior one. I think one guy will be a surprise package going to Australia, someone who can bowl with pace and has bounce. Prasidh Krishna has done well in the domestic arena as well. This group of bowlers, it is a great luxury to have in all formats. Looking at the big World Cup, we have enough options," Kohli said after India's seven-wicket win against Sri Lanka in the second T20 International.
For the uninitiated, besides his exploits at the domestic circuit, Krishna showed composure while bowling the Super Over in a high-stakes IPL game against Delhi Capitals last year. He has taken 19 wickets in the Vijay Hazare Trophy National One Dayers but his economy rate in T20s is 8.66.
