The upcoming England-West Indies Test series, in all likelihood, will mark the return of cricket. But there are too many canceled or postponed fixtures due to coronavirus pandemic and cricket boards will do everything to salvage those fixtures. They sure understand the importance of revenue generated from international matches; and without it, the sport will not survive.
One possible means to accommodate all the deferred fixtures is to arrange different formats at the same time. Hypothetical, but doable for sure. For that, national cricket teams will need to field different teams. A rarity in sports, but not unheard of. Yes, desperate times call for desperate measures.
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So, how will the teams shape up? At least for India, one of the game's powerhouses, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) can field two strong sides simultaneously, say for the ICC World Test Championship and T20I World Cup -- considering their relevance in the current scenario.
And experts have already started picking their Indian teams.
Former chief selectors MSK Prasad and Kiran More, and Ajit Agarkar, who also served as a selector for the Mumbai Cricket Association, have their picks as revealed by ESPNcricinfo.
Here's a look at the XIIs:
MSK Prasad
Test: Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteswhar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami.
T20I: KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini.
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Kiren More
Test: Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Hanuma Vihari.
T20I: Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Suryakumar Yadav.
Ajit Agarkar
Test: Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Shubman Gill.
T20I: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur.
