World Cup Squad Set: Rohit Sharma Insists on Long-Term Vision Despite Hardik's IPL Struggles

The Mumbai Indians may have been disappointed with Hardik Pandya's performance, but the Indian team management isn't giving it much thought. With a few exceptions, the core group, which will make up the XV for the T20 World Cup, was chosen well in advance of the IPL.

If three or four weeks of cricket begins to influence you, something has been off with your thinking during the past few months. Thus, we knew exactly what we wanted to do.

"We had clarity on what our core group was going to be like, 70, 80 percent... and then few changes," BCCI captain Rohit Sharma stated during a news conference on Thursday at Cricket Centre, the BCCI headquarters. "You can't really change your planning and mindset around it (the IPL)."

That could have been the basis for Hardik's continued inclusion in the team despite his lackluster IPL 2024 performance (197 runs in 10 games; 6 wickets at an economy of 11.0).

In response to a question from The Telegraph, the chairman of the selection committee, Ajit Agarkar, further stated that "nothing was discussed with regards to vice-captaincy."

"Hadik returned following a quite protracted layoff. The positive aspect that we have observed is that he has completed every game thus far.

It is therefore hoped that he continues to develop on the form that we know he is doing. We thus know what he offers to the team and how much balance he provides, provided he stays in shape. Right now, I don't think there's a substitute for what he can accomplish as a cricket player. Therefore, he must be fit for us," Agarkar stated.

The reasoning behind selecting Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, and Ravindra Jadeja as the four spinners was not something Rohit wished to ponder.

"I'm sure the opposition captains are listening to this, so I don't want to go into too much detail," Rohit remarked. "I was very much hoping for four spinners. There is a technical element involved, but we are aware of the conditions.

The head selector acknowledged that the hardest decision was to exclude Rinku Singh.

"Neither Shubman Gill nor he, Rinku, have done anything wrong. Just the combinations matter," Agarkar remarked. We wanted to provide many options for bowling because we don't know what kind of circumstances we'll have.

It has nothing to do with Rinku, in my opinion. His absence is not his fault; rather, it's more about the XV we thought we were in need of. We can only take XV, but that's how close he was.

With his powerful blows, Shivam Dube tipped the odds in his favour. Rohit stated, "The one thing we really looked at was middle-overs hitting."

"The hitting in the top order has gone okay... We needed someone to step in and take over during the middle overs so he could play freely without worrying about who was bowling. Our choice was Shivam Dube.

A question about Virat Kohli's strike rate would have been necessary for the media conference to be complete. On the subject, Rohit and Agarkar both laughed.

"I don't believe we have been talking about it... He's been playing really well in the IPL, you know. Therefore, there are absolutely no worries about how the IPL is going. It's still international cricket, and there will be a World Cup. That gap is still present there.

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