A young India squad was named for the New Zealand T20I series midway through the T20 World Cup in Australia giving a clear indication that the selectors were looking ahead into the future no matter how the team would fare at the showpiece event. India exited the tournament after losing to England in the semifinal.
A host of senior India stars including captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, Mohammed Shami aren’t part of the tour during which the tourists will be playing three T20Is and as many ODIs.
The likes of Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Umran Malik among others are part of the tour but former South Africa international Jonty Rhodes thinks that the India squad has ‘some great players’ and playing in IPL has put them in good stead.
“The current crop that is in New Zealand is a fairly young team and there are some great players in the line up. And because of the success of the IPL you certainly have an amazing platform to showcase their skill,” Rhodes said.
“You look at the T20 squad selected just after the T20 World Cup, that gives a good indication of the ability of some of the players. It’s a strong line up without the senior players,” he added.
England defeated Pakistan in the final to lift their second ever T20 world trophy. Rhodes feels that playing in IPL has given overseas players from England, Australia and South Africa plenty of experience and helped them develop their game further.
“You spend a lot of time in India during the IPL format and even if the players are not playing all the matches, they are participating in conditions that was difficult for them before. They work and train with some of the best players and coaches in the world, that sort of experience helps grow their game just by asking questions,” he said.
Rhodes will be mentoring Samp Army in the Abu Dhabi T20 league and Rhodes reckons that the format is even more exciting than T20.
“T10 is a shorter, more exciting format than even the T20 game that takes three and a half hours. Maybe at competitions like the CWG or Olympics, we could see it, but the ICC at this stage with their FTP can fit in another format, they are struggling as it is,” he said.
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