India favourites for T20 World Cup 2024, says Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara

Former Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara has named India favourites for the 2024 T20 World Cuptobe played in the West Indies and the USA in June. On Tuesday (April 30), the BCCI selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, named India's 15-man squad which saw the return of Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant with Sanju Samson also getting a look-in. Meanwhile, Shivam Dube also got included whereasKL Rahul was dropped.

Rinku Singh, who has been India's finisher in the format in the recent past, was not part of the main squad but has been named in the reserves list. Speaking on Rohit Sharma-led Indiasquad, Sangakkara -- who is currently serving as Rajasthan Royals (RR) head coach in IPL 2024 -- lauded the squad and made a big claim.

Sanga, ahead of RR's away game versus Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Thursday (May 2), said in Hyderabad, "It's (India) an extremely strong squad. They've got their batting covered, they've got their all-rounders in. They've got very high-quality spin and they've got very good combinations that they can play."

Speaking on India's team combination, Sanga elaborated, "Knowing the conditions there, I'm sure Rahul (Dravid) and Rohit (Sharma) have a good idea of what the squad should be to play the cricket they want in the World Cup. And they'll be having two or three different combinations, depending on whether they want a deeper batting line-up or more strength in their bowling. But it's a really well-balanced squad, a very strong squad and India's always been very strong in international tournaments."

India are in Group A along with arch-rivals Pakistan, USA, Canada and Scotland. They begin their campaign versus Ireland on June 5 at theNassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York.

India Squad for T20 World Cup

Rohit Sharma (c), Yashashvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

Reserves:Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan