Same India squads likely for NZ series and T20 World Cup

Guwahati, Nov 21 (PTI) The national selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar, in all likelihood, will select identical squads for the five-match T20I series against New Zealand and the marquee ICC T20 World Cup, a BCCI source said on Friday. While the schedule of the global event is yet to be announced, the tentative start date for the 20-team tournament is February 7.

The ICC tournament rules mandate teams to submit their final 15-member squad, a month prior to the commencement of the tournament. The selection committee will announce their picks with an option to make changes till a specified cut-off date.

The same rule was in place too for the 2024 edition held in the Americas which India won under Rohit Sharma's captaincy.

The New Zealand T20I series starts from January 21 and will be the last series before the T20 World Cup.

"With only 10 T20Is left before the T20 World Cup, you won't see many changes happening in the squad proper unless someone is ruled out due to any specific injury," a source privy to development told PTI on condition of anonymity.

"One of the biggest reasons being continuity and the 15 chosen for the series against the Black Caps won't be tinkered with because of the short turnaround time." The five T20Is against New Zealand will be played in Nagpur (January 21), Raipur (January 23), Guwahati (January 25), Vizag (January) 28 and Trivandrum (January 31).

It is expected that the South Africa T20I series will be the last chance for Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav to check out a few players before New Zealand rubber, which will be a dress rehearsal for the marquee event.

While changes forced by injuries is something that is beyond control, the selection panel might not want to tinker with the named squad at a later date like it was forced to take that route during the Champions Trophy in Dubai earlier this year.

The original Champions Trophy squad had Yashasvi Jaiswal in it but looking at the conditions in Dubai and the need for a mystery spinner, Varun Chakravarthy made way during the preceding series against England.

Jaiswal was eventually dropped after being picked in the initial 15, a precedent that didn't seem encouraging. PTI KHS KHS AT AT