Keen to end their long-standing ICC trophy drought, Team India will begin their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign against Ireland at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on June 5.
Ahead of the game, India’s team composition is making all the noise, with experts sharing their views on it. Former wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik also predicted his India playing XI, suggesting that the Men in Blue could open with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and send Rishabh Pant to bat at No. 3.
Karthik drew his conclusions based on India’s solitary warm-up fixture against Bangladesh last Saturday (June 1).
The practice match took place in New York and the likes of Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh starred in the team’s 60-run victory over Bangladesh.
Batting at No. 3, Pant slammed 53 (retd hurt) off 32 balls while Hardik returned with 40 not out off 23 balls to propel India to 182/5 in 20 overs. On the other hand, Arshdeep finished with the figures of 2 for 12 in his three overs.
“Rishabh Pant smashed it and batted beautifully. They lost Sanju Samson early, Rohit started okay but got it. It was a Rishabh Pant show, batted beautifully. The interesting part is whether they are looking at him as the number 3 or 4, which I think they will. The way he started was very very good,” Karthik said while speaking on Cricbuzz.
Commenting on the team composition, Dinesh Karthik suggested that India might go ahead with two spin all-rounders in Akshar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja.
He added, “I have a feeling that they are keen on playing Akshar. The fact that he also gives batting at number 8 and the fact that Chahal did not bowl tells us that they are looking at Akshar to start the tournament.”
Seam-bowling all-rounder Shivam Dube also got the chance to bowl and picked up two consecutive wickets in the final over. While Karthik refused to read too much into it, he values Dube’s skills as a ‘worthy seventh bowling option’.
“That was right at the end, don’t want to read too much into that since we already have six good bowlers. But he is a worthy seventh bowling option to have if push comes to shove. On these slow pitches he will be good. He bowled a lovely couple of slower ones in the 20th over, he got two wickets in those last few balls,” Karthik remarked.
Dinesh Karthik’s Prediction for India’s XI in T20 World Cup 2024: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh
