In the past, there have been a plethora of instances when the national selectors have requested the BCCI to allow them to watch IPL games in an official capacity but the requests were denied citing technical issues. However, in the ongoing IPL 2022, things have been different. The national selectors are officially watching the games rotationally while camping in Mumbai. Currently, Sunil Joshi of the Chetan Sharma committee is on duty in Mumbai.

Talking about some of the most pertinent selection issues in Indian cricket is – the dying form of Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik’s urge to play for India, the demand to include Umran Malik (legendary cricketer, Sunil Gavaskar had vouched for the fiery pacer to be included in the Indian team only because he bowls straight and fast), recalling Hardik Pandya to the national squad.

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However, since the selectors are now watching the games from the stadiums themselves, the IPL performances will count for a lot – selection or non-selection. According to the latest reports of Cricbuzz, it is unlikely that too many changes will be made for the five-match series against South Africa, while it’s still early days.

The selection meeting, a top BCCI functionary said, will not take place till the play-offs. They will be focusing more on the balance of the squad for the England series and the subsequent white ball series in the Caribbean/US between July and August. However, the selection committee will not be keen on making experiments for the South Africa series at home, to be held from June 9 to 19.

There are certain chances that the selectors will look to include new faces in the squad, but not at the cost of leaving out the players who they tried in the white ball series against West Indies and Sri Lanka. A few people being closely watched include Prasidh Krishna who is said to have impressed the committee and he will be expected to make his T20 debut this year.

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Umran Malik, who is on the verge of breaking the speed gun, is also in the reckoning as is Karthik who too has impressed the selectors, and he can get a national callback. A lot will depend on the thinking of captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid who started planning for the Twenty20 World Cup a long while back. As for Virat Kohli, the report suggests that he will not be dropped from any squad in any of the formats unless the former captain himself chooses to rest or retire.