• Source:JND
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Former India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel believes that the return of captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the ongoing T20I series against Afghanistan is a clear indication that the duo will play this year's T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and the USA.

Both Rohit and Kohli made a return to India's T20I side after a gap of more than 14 months for Men in Blue's final bilateral T20I assignment against Afghanistan before the ICC showpiece event. However, Rohit has failed to score a single run in the two matches of the series while Kohli scored 29 in his comeback match after missing the first T20I due to personal reasons.

As per Parthiv, the recent performance will not the selection criteria for the T20 World Cup 2024 squad and claimed that their selection for the series itself means they will play the T20 pinnacle tournament.

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"I don’t see this series as a selection series for the World Cup. I don’t think any player performing or not will impact their chances of World Cup selection, specially when you are talking about Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli. Once you have picked them for the series, it means they are going for the World Cup," Patel told JioCinema.

The former wicketkeeper feels that Rohit will be keen to score big runs before the mega competition.

"For Rohit Sharma personally, he would like to score runs. He likes to set the tone and if he gets in, he would like to make it a big one," he added.

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Talking about the final T20I of the series, Parthiv said M Chinnaswamy's pitch in Bengaluru will serve similar conditions to the West Indies and the USA to test players on a flat batting surface.

"We can also look at preparing a slower wicket. The upcoming T20 World Cup will be held in the USA and West Indies where slower wickets are expected. The players can be tested for similar conditions. We all know that Chinnaswamy is a flat batting wicket, but that wicket can also turn and India can look at doing that. That’s how you can test your players and build the squad for the World Cup," he said.

India lead the three-match T20I series 2-0 and will look to clean sweep in Bengaluru.