The Indian squad is set to depart for Australia on October 6, two days after the conclusion of their ongoing three-match T20I series against South Africa to take part in a preparatory camp ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 starting on October 16.
This implies that the Indian selectors will be forced to select a second-string squad, likely to be led by Shikhar Dhawan, to take on South Africa in a three-match one-day international series. The ODI series between India and South Africa will be held from October 6-11.
According to reports, the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup will be based in Perth and will have a preparatory camp which also includes a practice match against Western Australia, before they will travel to Brisbane to take on Australia and New Zealand in the two designated warm-up matches ahead of the T20 World Cup 2022 main round.
As many as five players in the current Indian squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 have no experience of playing international cricket in Australia which includes world No 2 T20I batsman Suryakumar Yadav, fast bowler Arshdeep Singh, batsman Deepak Hooda, legspinner Ravi Bishnoi and death overs specialist Harshal Patel.
India are sweating over the fitness of their fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah who has reportedly suffered a back stress fracture and is expected to be missing the entire T20 World Cup 2022 tournament. However, the Indian cricket board chief Sourav Ganguly has said that Jasprit Bumrah is not entirely ruled out of the tournament yet, and the board wants to wait for another 2 to 3 days to take a final call.
India are also waiting on the fitness report of Deepak Hooda, who is also at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore — along with Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja — nursing a back injury which had forced him out of the T20 series against South Africa.
India’s star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is already ruled out of the T20 World Cup following a knee injury that he suffered during the Asia Cup 2022 tournament in the United Arab Emirates.
India are placed in group 2 of the ICC T-20 World Cup 2022 alongside archrivals Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa and two other teams that will qualify.
India will play their first match against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on October 23, followed by games on October 27 against the first qualifier team, on October 30 versus South Africa, on November 2 against Bangladesh and November 6 against the second qualifier team.