5 players who are not retired but are no longer in Team India plans for ICC T20 World Cup 2020

These five players have not called time on their careers, but have next to no chance of playing in T20 World Cup 2020.

The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 will be played in Australia and all the teams have started preparing for the same with a year to go. Team India have always been favorites to repeat their victorious run from 2007 edition, but have fallen short.

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With India reaching the semifinals of the ICC World Cup 2019, hopes of Men in Blue fans all over the world have increased multifold. The 2014 finalists and 2016 semi-finalists are ranked fourth in the ICC T20I team rankings and the focus has shifted to check out team combination of varieties. However, some of the players, who have done well for them over the years, might not even get a look in when the final squad is decided.

Some of these cricketers are on the wrong side of 30 and have represented India with distinction on the world stage and have done many amazing things, but form, fitness and a combination of both have led to them being relegated to afterthoughts. These players have not called time on their careers but have little to no chance of making it into the India squad for 2020 T20 World Cup.

Here are five such players who are not retired but are no longer in Team India plans for ICC T20 World Cup 2020

UMESH YADAV
Umesh Yadav is the premier Indian fast bowler with a wealth of experience at the international level. He has played 41 Tests and 75 ODIs for the Men in Blue after making his debut in 2010 and has a total of 225 wickets in both formats.

However, he has not found success in T20Is for India playing just 7 matches and picking 9 wickets and has never been in Indian team’s plans for the shortest format at international level. Overall, he has 148 wickets in 146 T20 matches at an economy of 8.30 and has played regularly in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for various teams.

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Umesh has been earmarked as a Test bowler for the Indian team, especially at home, given his supreme fitness and ability to bowl long spells with high pace. But his inaccuracy in limited-overs and tendency to go for runs have pushed him out of contention for T20Is and is most likely not to be considered for the T20 World Cup 2020.

DINESH KARTHIK

Dinesh Karthik is a true veteran of the Indian cricket team having made his debut back in 2004. Unfortunately, he played most of his cricket in the shadow of MS Dhoni and though he received many chances to cement himself, he has lacked those killer performances that might earn him a permanent place in the team.

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He has played 26 Tests, 94 ODIs and 32 T20Is for India in 15 years and has scored 1025, 1752 and 399 runs respectively in all formats. He is more famous for his whirlwind innings in the 2018 Nidahas Trophy when he smacked 22 runs in the 19^th over in the final against Bangladesh and then hit a six off the final ball when five runs were needed.

But given he is 34 years old and plays the role of a finisher, Karthik has been replaced with all-rounders like Krunal Pandya and Washington Sundar in the T20I team and it looks like he might not make it to the 2020 T20 World Cup purely because there are better and younger options than him, despite his experience going for him.

AMBATI RAYUDU

Ambati Rayudu could never have a long career for India given that the team had a middle-order full of amazing talent. Rayudu had to wait till 2014 to make his India debut despite making tons of runs in domestic cricket since 2001. He has played 55 ODIs making 1694 runs with 3 centuries and 10 fifties and 6 T20Is making 42 runs.

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Though he has a good T20 record with 4584 runs in 216 matches, Rayudu being 34 years old, goes against him. His fitness has always been a bit on the iffy side and after the “3D glasses” episode when he was overlooked for the ICC World Cup 2019 and then announcing a faux retirement, Rayudu might have done more harm to his relationship with BCCI selection panel than anything.

Even Rayudu will be surprised if he is ever picked again for the Indian team in any format, let alone the 2020 T20 World Cup, a format in which he has never seemed comfortable, despite his IPL exploits.  

R ASHWIN

It has been more than two years since R Ashwin played limited-overs cricket for India at international level. He has 150 ODI wickets in 111 matches and 52 wickets in 46 T20I matches so far, but his poor performance in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and then degrading fitness levels have put the ace off-spinner out of contention in white-ball cricket.

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Ashwin has probably lost the art of off-spin to add variations and more options in his arsenal and perhaps that has hampered his chances of making it back into the limited-overs scene and has been labeled as a red-ball cricketer. With 342 wickets in just 65 Tests, Ashwin is one of the ace bowlers in Tests but is no longer the first-choice spinner as seen in the West Indies series.

Ashwin has played in previous editions of T20 World Cup, but it seems impossible that he will be considered for the upcoming edition in 2020 for the Indian team.  

SURESH RAINA

One of the best limited-overs cricketers India has ever produced, Suresh Raina brought a different level of fielding in the Indian team once Mohammad Kaif was no longer in consideration and played the role of finisher along with Dhoni to the tee. He even captained India in ODIs and T20Is and until recently was one of the most important members of the team.

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However, he last played in limited-overs for India in 2018 and with him struggling with fitness and form in domestic cricket, Raina is no longer in consideration for the Indian team. Also, the rise of Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya and Washington Sundar in the team, Men in Blue have real allrounders to employ instead of part-timers like Raina.

Though he is just 32-years-old, time is running out for Raina to stake a claim for the ICC T20 World Cup 2020, given his injuries and that he has not scored runs in domestic cricket for Uttar Pradesh.