India wrapped up the home five-match T20I series by winning the final game by six runs at the iconic M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday (Dec 3). Having already won the series with an unassailable 3-1 lead after the fourth T20I, Suryakumar Yadav-led India beat Matthew Wade’s Australia by a whisker in defence of 160/8.

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Being asked to bat first, India rode on Shreyas Iyer’s 53 and vital runs from Jitesh Sharma and Axar Patel to post 160/8. In reply, Ben McDermott top-scored for the Aussies with a fine 54 but it was not enough. Arshdeep Singh defended 10 runs in the last over, with visitors managing 154/8, to take his side to a 4-1 series triumph. After the series, former Indian opener Aakash Chopra opined on India’s performance and made a big claim with regard to the Men in Blue’s potential squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup, in West Indies and USA.

Chopra feels there might be a toss-up between Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shubman Gill for India’s T20 WC squad. Gaikwad ended as the top-scorer in the five T20Is, scoring 223 runs at an average of 55.75 with a best of 123*. 

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Chopra lauded Gaikwad for being among runs and said on his YouTube channel, “Ruturaj Gaikwad – he said that he is there. Ruturaj is going to have stiff competition because Shubman Gill also plays like that. Rohit Sharma will also come now. So suddenly you will feel that you aren’t even able to pick two among the three. So these runs were necessary.”

The former Indian cricketer further advised Gaikwad and added, “Keep scoring runs so that you are part of the squad when the World Cup comes. From his point of view, it’s important that he remains a part of the squad. It might be a direct shoot-out between him and Shubman Gill. You might keep one of them as both do similar things in T20 cricket.”

Gill had a good run in the ODI World Cup at home, ending with 354 runs in nine games, at an average of 44.25 with four fifties. He will face stiff competition from Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ishan Kishan at the top-order in India’s T20I setup.

India’s T20I squad for SA tour

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar.

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