‘Don’t think you should make any changes’: Ajit Agarkar on IPL performance impacting T20 World Cup squad

Former India pacer Ajit Agarkar feels the selectors shouldn’t make any change in the T20 World Cup squad despite some players going through a lean patch ahead of the showpiece event in UAE.

The All-India Senior Selection Committee last month picked the India squad for the upcoming ICC men’s T20 World Cup to be hosted by the BCCI from October 17 to November 14 in the UAE and Oman.

“In my opinion, once you have picked the squad for World Cup — barring injury — I don’t think you should make any changes. 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,” Agarkar said on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.

The former Indian cricketer wants the selector to stick with the squad as only one inning (in IPL 2021) is needed for a player to regain the form.

“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,” said Agarkar.

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (VC), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Chahar, Varun, Mohammed Shami, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishan Kishan.

Stand-byes: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur.