While the 2022 edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is still four months away, cricket fans and experts have already started picking their first-choice playing XI for different teams.

Recently, former India opener Gautam Gambhir also joined the bandwagon although he didn’t name the entire XI and only picked the top-three for Team India.

In a bold move, Gambhir has not selected premier batters KL Rahul and Virat Kohli for the top-order positions and instead went with the trio of Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav.

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Speaking to Star Sports, Gambhir said he would open with the Mumbai Indians (MI) duo of Ishan with Rohit followed by another MI batter in Suryakumar.

"Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma to open, and Suryakumar Yadav at number 3 for me," he stated.

Gautam Gambhir’s top-three left many surprised as KL Rahul was among the top run-getter in the recently held IPL season.

While leading the new franchise Lucknow Super Giants, Rahul finished the IPL 2022 as the second highest run-scorer with 616 runs from 15 games. Only Rajasthan Royals’ Jos Buttler was ahead of him with 863 runs from 17 matches.

Gambhir’s decision to leave out Virat Kohli also left many stunned. Kohli may have been out of form lately, but he has a very good record in Australia – the hosts for the T20 World Cup 2022.

Kohli has played 10 T20I innings on Australian soil, scoring 451 runs at a staggering average of 64.42 and a strike rate of 144.55 with five half-centuries.