The ICC T20 World Cup 2022 will be held in Australia from October 16 to November 13 this year. All World Cup-bound players, including Rohit Sharma and company, will be rested for the ODI series while Shikhar Dhawan will be Team India Captain for the South Africa series. In addition, VVS Laxman is probably going to be coaching the squad in Rahul Dravid’s absence.
Beginning September 28, India will play three T20Is and one ODI against South Africa. The opening ceremony will take place on September 28 in Thiruvananthapuram. On October 2, 2022, Gandhi Jayanti, the second T20I, will be played in Guwahati to commemorate the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth. The final T20I will be played in Indore, on October 4th.
Following the T20 series, India will play three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) before facing Australia. The first ODI will be played on October 6th in Ranchi, the second on October 9th in Lucknow, and the third and final ODI will be played on October 11th in Delhi.
However, Team India will play a warm-up match against Australia just six days after the last ODI, so the India T20 WC squad will leave for Australia on October 10 to acclimate to the conditions and time zones. The board has therefore decided to field an entirely different team for the ODI series.
Nevertheless, there could be a change in plans if Rahul Dravid decides to have an ODI practise before the T20 WC. Dravid reportedly wants the players to practise in as many competitive settings as possible. This might result in a few T20 World Cup players participating in the ODI series. Those with little game time, such as KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, and Harshal Patel, might be chosen. Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, and Rohit Sharma will be rested in that case.
A BCCI official recently said that “Yes, both the squads can be named next week. Anyway, the ICC deadline to name the squads is not too far away and selectors are likely to select both the squads in the coming week.”
When asked about the possibility of Jasprit Bumrah returning to the squad, the BCCI official stated that “again, it’s too early to say. We will discuss the options once he is fit. He is not fit currently. We are hopeful he will be back. But we can only say for sure when he passes the fitness test. In any case, he will never be rushed, even for the sake of the T20 World Cup. We have time for T20 WC and we will see how it progresses. “
