India’s forgettable performance from the last ICC Men’s T20 World Cup has been a matter that several cricket fanatics couldn’t digest, and the board aims to get rectified. The team announcement for the current T20 World Cup was a recent matter of interest for many. On Monday, September 12, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed a 15-man contingent, with few surprises.

Indeed, there are a few players who, due to their prospective and faultless level should have been included in the 15-man team rather than the reserve section. Let us look at three players who should have had an opportunity to represent the Indian arsenal in the 2022 World Twenty20 Tournament:

Sanju Samson

Some may be perplexed, and rightly so, that despite a plethora of potential, Sanju Samson has only made 23 appearances for India. Despite hitting 30 or more runs in three of his past five innings, including a 77-run effort, the wicketkeeper-batter has been denied a ticket to Australia and is not even on the standby list.

Samson has 179 runs at an average of 44.75 in five T20I innings in 2022. To put his figures in context, he has the third-highest average among Indian hitters who have scored more than 100 T20I runs this season.

Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer’s absence is likewise odd, but it may show an underlying tendency of the board favouring specialised positions and experience above the present form of the players. The 27-year-old has scored 445 international runs in the shortest format this season; he is the only Indian batter, aside from Virat Kohli and Deepak Hooda, to have maintained a T20I average over 40 in 2022 while also scoring over 200 runs.

Iyer struck a 40-ball 64 against West Indies in his last T20I encounter, but it was insufficient to secure him a spot in the team. Iyer is one of India’s four standby players, along with Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, and Deepak Chahar.

Mohammed Shami

Though many players may legitimately feel unlucky to have been left out of the team, one exclusion has many scratching their heads: pacer Mohammed Shami.

The experienced speedster did not play in the Asia Cup 2022; therefore India felt a vacuum in their pace contingent. While the return of Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel will undoubtedly strengthen India’s new ball threat, the pick of inexperienced Arshdeep Singh ahead of Shami may come back to haunt the selection committee.

Shami is the third-highest wicket-taker and one of the top ten bowling averages among those who have bowled at least 300 deliveries in the previous two IPL seasons.