Team India's T20 World Cup squad: Analysing strengths & weaknesses of Virat Kohli's side

Team India is prepared to begin its ICC T20 World Cup campaign on October 24 after two successful warm-up games against top T20I sides in the world, England and Australia. India's opening encounter of the tournament will be against arch-rivals Pakistan, who will enter the highly-anticipated contest having only won one of their two warm-up games.

Looking at Team India's World Cup squad, it's difficult to find any flaws, as it appears to be the strongest side in the entire competition. Along with incumbent champion West Indies and England, India enter the showpiece ICC event as one of the favourites to win.

Let's take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of Team India before the side begins its campaign in the ICC T20 World Cup. 

Strengths

The major strength that Team India possesses is its formidable batting unit. The top eight consist of players with an impeccable record in winning games for their respective sides. The list includes batters such as Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, and Ravindra Jadeja. All these players are proven match-winners with the bat. On top of that, Pandya and Jadeja can impact the game with their bowling too as they are considered top-class all-rounders in the game right now. 

Another strength that Team India possesses is its spin attack, which consists of names like Ravichandran Ashwin, Varun Chakravarthy, and Rahul Chahar. India's spin attack is one of the most dangerous in the competition, with no team boasting of such a large number of spinners in their T20 World Cup squad. The tracks in the UAE, where the second phase of IPL 2021 was played recently, are believed to be spinner-friendly. India could exploit the conditions in their favour. 

Weaknesses

The biggest weakness of Team India at the moment is its death over bowling. The Indian squad consists of some quality pacers who can prove to be lethal towards the backend of an innings, especially with Jasprit Bumrah in the mix. However, the recent form of Buvneshwar Kumar has raised questions about Team India's ability to bowl in the death overs. 

The current form of all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who has not bowled in competitive matches in recent times, is another source of concern for the Indian management. Hardik Pandya, according to the experts, is better suited in the playing XI when he can bat and bowl.

Hardik is yet to show if he has regained his bowling form, while his batting record has come under criticism since he has not proven his finishing ability with the bat in recent times.

India's squad for T20 World Cup: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Varun Chakravarthy, Rahul Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah. Travelling reserves: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar.

Image: BCCI/Twitter