Dinesh Karthik is the eldest in the India World Cup squad. The 37-year-old wicket-keeper cum finisher made his India debut in 2004. He was under the shadow of legend MS Dhoni for the most part of his career. However, MSD is not playing any more and DK is playing probably his last World Cup this year.
A special hug between Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik ❤️
Rohit was so happy!! pic.twitter.com/kINqvbzzES— Asha (@ashaa_45) September 23, 2022
The present Indian captain, Rohit Sharma, is already 35 years old and has an invaluable international experience of 15 years. World Cup winner and master batter, Virat Kohli debuted in 2008 and has 14 years of game experience. All these three batters are top achievers, in terms of fitness and game skills. This brings into point a critical question. Whether age really matters if a player is doing exceedingly well for the team.
India and age issue in the Dhoni era
During the 2008 CB series, the then-skipper MS Dhoni introduced a controversial rotation policy. The rationale behind such a controversial move was to improve the fielding standards in the team. As a result, Dhoni rotated between Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, and Virender Sehwag during the series. Former Indian opener Sehwag took a cheeky dig during a presser, where he asked a reporter about his fielding standards.
Somewhere between Sachin-Sehwag and Rohit-Virat, we all grew up 🥺#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/NCXGEdVftB
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 20, 2021
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Most of the criticism based on age is related to fielding. At present, Indian team is a struggling unit in the field, but most of its issues aren’t concerned with age, but with performance. The wealth of experience the aged players add up to the team is one factor that helps in dealing with pressure situations.
Team India and the average age in numbers
The average age of Indian players for the T20 World Cup is 30.2 years. The 15-member squad is also the oldest ever Indian squad in World Cup history. The inaugural edition of the World Cup saw Dhoni and Co. registering a memorable feat by winning the World Cup.
Punjab’s @arshdeepsinghh is in India’s squad for ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022. Congratulations and all the best Arsh 🇮🇳
RSharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), VKohli, SKY, DHooda, R Pant (WK), DKarthik (WK), HPandya, R. Ashwin, Y Chahal, Axar Patel, JBumrah, B Kumar, HPatel, Arshdeep Singh pic.twitter.com/4ySqG70U3s
— Punjab Cricket Association (@pcacricket) September 12, 2022
Interestingly, the average age of the squad was 23.6 years. Senior pros like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Sourav Ganguly gave the tournament a miss to give more opportunities to the youngsters. The average age has increased from the last year, which was 28.9 years. The 23-year-old Arshdeep Singh is the youngest Indian in the squad.
Senior pros like Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli, and R Ashwin will look to give their best in the showpiece event. Because their chances are numbering.
