With the 2022 edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup barely a month away, cricket fans and experts have started picking their first-choice playing XI for different sides.
Recently, former cricketers Kris Srikkanth and Irfan Pathan joined the bandwagon and named their Indian playing XI for the marquee event in Australia.
Earlier this week, the BCCI announced Team India’s 15-member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup, with pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel making a return after recovering from their respective injuries.
Arshdeep Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are the other two specialist pacers in the squad, along with the all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Deepak Hooda. On the other hand, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Akshar Patel are the premier spinners in the line-up.
The batting line-up is along expected lines with skipper Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, and Dinesh Karthik all included.
Picking his XI from the selected set of players, Srikkanth backed Kohli to bat at No. 3 even though the former India skipper slammed his maiden T20I ton while opening the innings against Afghanistan in the recently held Asia Cup 2022.
"My playing 11, wherever you play, whether you're playing in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney or Perth, my playing 11 is always fixed. For the first game -- KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli -- number three, Suryakumar Yadav - number four, number five is Hardik Pandya, number six is Rishabh Pant, number seven -- Ashwin, eight -- Chahal, 9, 10, 11 -- in this particular team will be Bhuvneshwar Kumar, (Jasprit) Bumrah and of course Harshal Patel," said Srikkanth on 'Follow The Blues' show on Star Sports.
On the other hand, Pathan’s XI had a slightly different outlook. The former all-rounder preferred veteran Dinesh Karthik over young Rishabh Pant as a wicketkeeper while he
"See, in my opinion, if you're playing the first match, you need to have some experienced bowlers including one spinner. So, from the top, my playing 11 would be - Rohit, KL Rahul, number three - Virat (Kohli), number four - Suryakumar Yadav, number five - Deepak Hooda, number six - Hardik Pandya, number seven - Dinesh Karthik," Irfan said.
He added that he wants to make space for left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh to be included sometime in the competition.
"Number eight will be a right arm leg spinner so it would be (Yuzvendra) Chahal, 9 to 11, here there will be Jasprit Bumrah, Harshal Patel and along with that you can go for Bhuvneshwar Kumar."
"So, there will be a combination here, three fast bowlers out of which two are quality fast bowlers, who will be able to bowl at the death as well. And I will make sure that I have the combination and the liberty to choose from the three fast bowlers, even Arshdeep (Singh) to handle the death bowling. So, in my opinion, in the playing 11, the spinner is clear, it's just whether I can make space for Arshdeep in the team."
India will begin their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan at Melbourne Cricket Ground on October 23.
India’s squad for T20 World Cup 2022: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, R Pant (WK), Dinesh Karthik (WK), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Akshar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh
Standby Players: Mohammad Shami, Deepak Chahar, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi
(With Star Sports inputs)
