Is Team India "serious enough" in T20 format, asks Bishen Bedi

Is Team India on an experimentation spree in search of finding the perfect XI for next year's T20 World Cup? With less than a year to go for the summit clash, are BCCI and the selectors "serious enough" to chalk out that best possible XI? When Team India is scaling new heights in Test cricket and not doing so badly in ODIs either, why there is a sudden slump in the playing standards in the shortest format of the game? 

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India is world No. 1 in ICC Test rankings

On Sunday night, India lost to Bangladesh by 7 wickets in the first of the 3 match T20 series — first time ever India lost a T20 match against a lowly ranked Bangladesh team. India is world no 1 in ICC Test rankings (by a long margin) and world no 2 in ICC ODI rankings, but languishing at no 5 in the T20 format. Former India players like Bishen Singh Bedi feel the senior players were not getting enough motivation to be consistent in this format and the youngsters have also failed to live up to the expectations.

Captain Virat Kohli skipping the T20 series against Bangladesh is a point in case. The regular captain chose to give the T20 series a miss and be available for Test series against the same opponent shows what the priorities were. The fact that none of the top four Indian pace bowlers — Jasprit Bumrah, Md Shami, Ishant Sharma, and Bhubaneshwar Kumar — were picked by the selectors show their lack of seriousness.

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'How can you win a match without Ashwin and Jadeja?'

The former India player also pointed out that selectors have fielded a second-string bowling attack that does not have the top three spinners — Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav. "How can India win a match without Ashwin and Jadeja? They are the best. For God's sake utilise your best resources and the proven match winners. That's the best way to move forward keeping T20 World Cup in mind," Bedi told Republic TV over the phone.

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