Who would be the ideal replacement for the all-rounder who will go to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) alongside the 15-member squad?
The All-India Senior Selection Committee will be announcing the Team India squad for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021 on Wednesday.
While the squad is all set to be revealed for the upcoming tournament in October, and all eyes will be on whether the selectors and team management will be looking to add currently injured Washington Sundar to the list.
While there are chances he could get fit in time for the showpiece event, but if not who would be the ideal replacement for the all-rounder who will go to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) alongside the 15-member squad?
1. Ravichandran Ashwin
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Ravi Ashwin is currently the talk of the nation. The all-rounder is sitting on the benches while the Indian side is facing England in the five-match Test series.
While all have been questioning the team management for keeping the ICC ranked played out of the playing XI, there have been no definite answers to the same.
As far as T20I is concerned, Ravi Ashwin had last played in the blue jersey in 2017 against West Indies. While he does play T20 for Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), he has somehow not found his place in India's limited-overs squad.
2. Krunal Pandya
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While Hardik Pandya is a vital cog in the Indian limited-overs set-up, his elder brother Krunal has been in the scheme of things but only in recent times.
Making his T20I debut in 2018 against the West Indies, Krunal had taken one wicket and scored an unbeaten 21 runs off 9 balls.
He was later selected for the India Twenty20 International team against Australia and played all three matches. In the first, he leaked 55 runs, but in the second took 1/26 and won the Player of the Match award. In the third match, he took 4/36 in 4 overs.
With the IPL 2021 second phase all set to begin, if he gets selected in the squad, the Mumbai Indians (MI) lad will have enough practice before the big tournament.
3. Axar Patel
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Next on the list is spinner Axar Patel. The man had got heads turning especially after his performance against England at home in Ahemadabad.
He had made his Twenty20 International debut for India against Zimbabwe in July 2015 and was named as a stand-by player for India's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
In January 2021, Patel was named in India's Test squad and had made his comeback in international cricket after a gap of almost three years.
4. Kuldeep Yadav
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Having been inconsistent with the ball, Kuldeep Yadav is currently on a rough patch of his career. He made his Twenty20I debut for India against the West Indies on 9 July 2017.
He was part of the squad that was sent to Sri Lanka for the limited-overs series. But before India's second T20I against Sri Lanka, the last time Kuldeep had bowled in a T20 game was in IPL 2020 for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
He played only five games out of a possible 14 for the KKR and bowled only 12 overs in those five games, for just one wicket.
5. Krishnappa Gowtham
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Nicknamed Bhajji after his idol Harbhajan Singh, Krishnappa Gowtham was part of the squad that went to Sri Lanka. Gowtham was named in India's ODI and T20I squads.
While he made his ODI debut, for the T20I, he had tested COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, and could not play.
However, the man had impressed all when he had set the stage on fire with the best all-round performance. While playing for Ballari Tuskers in Karnataka Premier League (KPL) in 2019, the all-rounder had smashed the fastest hundred in the tournament's history, in just 39 balls and had also scored the highest total with the bat in KPL, remaining unbeaten on 134 in 56 balls.
Not just that, he went on to register the best bowling figures and picked up 8/15 in his 4 overs.
