'People might laugh at me' - Deep Dasgupta's huge praise for Team India despite topsy-turvy T20I form

Deep Dasgupta believes that for India, the biggest challenge in T20I cricket in the next one and a half years is to figure out the ideal team combination. The wicketkeeper-batter opined that India has enough players to create two equally good teams that can play T20I cricket. However, assembling one team from a pool of 30 players is going to be their biggest challenge going forward.

Despite India's topsy-turvy form in T20I cricket, where they won the T20 World Cup but lost back-to-back series to Ireland and England and most recently whitewashed Zimbabwe, Dasgupta praised the team's bench strength.

"In the next one and a half years, the most important thing in the format will be to figure out what the combination is, and roughly speaking, what the best 15 is? At this time, if I say this, people might laugh at me, but factually we can make two teams, and chances will be that both teams will be equally good. So, that brings up a challenge, because we have 30 players, but to reduce it down to 15 players, that will be a challenge. We do have the players," Deep Dasgupta said on his YouTube channel.

"We don't know what the best playing XI is" - Deep Dasgupta outlines the main concern with the T20I setup after Ireland and England series losses

The cricketer-turned-commentator opined that India's main reason for the losses in Ireland and England was the inability to find the perfect playing XI.

"I don't think anything has changed, and I feel that this team is a work in progress. Several people have asked me that what is going on with the Indian team? I tell them that most of the time, in the white-ball formats, especially T20Is, we don't know what the best playing XI is, or even the best 15. We don't know what combination suits us the best," Dasgupta added.

The Men in Blue's next assignment in the shortest format is a five-match series against the West Indies at home in October.