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With each passing day, the discussion around the T20 World Cup selection has grown more intense. Every talk show, after each game in the ongoing IPL 2024 season, over the last one month, has had a discussion on an Indian player on their potential to be or not be in the World Cup squad. The one spot around which the discussions have been particularly more has been the wicketkeeping role, where Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson emerged as frontrunners, leaving KL Rahul’s chances in a precarious position. Giving his two cents on the possibility of Rahul still making the T20 World Cup squad, former Australia cricketer Adam Gilchrist gave the simplest solution.
There were rumours heading into the 2024 IPL season that Rahul would look to reinvent himself as a middle-order batter in the format, as against opening the order, in a bid to increase his chances for to make the World Cup squad, where the battle lies for middle-order options. However, Rahul remained as an opener for Lucknow Super Giants this season. While Samson too has featured as a top-order batter for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2024, what has further hurt Rahul’s chances has been his strike rate of 138.58 in scoring 204 runs across six innings for LSG, laced with a solitary fifty.
Speaking to Cricbuzz on Friday before the start of LSG’s home game against Chennai Super Kings, Gilchrist shut the talk around Rahul’s chances to make the World Cup team, saying that he should move away from the ongoing narrative and first focus on winning the IPL title for Lucknow and being the best player in the tournament, which will automatically guarantee him the ticket to the ICC event.
“It’s probably going to be hard to shut it down for the rest of the tournament (talk around T20 World Cup selection). The narrative has to get away from who’s going on the World cup. How do they get into the World cup? He’s got to work out like every other player in this tournament. You’ll be on the plane if you’re in the narrative of selecting,” he said.
BCCI is likely to announce the 15-member World Cup squad for India by the end of April. The cut-off date for the submission of teams for the World Cup, as set by the International Cricket Council (ICC), is May 1.
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