As the deadline for the selection of India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad nears, former cricketers are sharing their opinions about which players to pick and which to ignore. There remains a big debate on the selection of Virat Kohli for the team, owing to the chatter about his strike rate and intent. Hardik Pandya, who remains the only prominent pace-bowling all-rounder in the Indian team, is also a player whose future has been discussed intensely because of his poor all-round form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
As the chatter continues, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan shared his 15-member squad for the showpiece event which takes place in June.
Top-order:At the top of the batting order, Irfan went with Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli. Any of them can be used for the two opening slots while Shubman Gill, among reserves, also remains an option. In total, Irfan picked four players for the two opening spots, with Kohli and Gill also capable of playing at the No. 3 spot.
Middle-order: Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube take up the middle-order roles, with Hardik Pandya being the sole pace-bowling all-rounder. Though Dube also does seam bowling but he hasn’t been used as a bowler by Chennai Super Kings in the IPL yet. Surprisingly, there was no place for Sanju Samson in the team and Pant was the only wicket-keeper picked. KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer were among the top players to miss out.
Spinners:Ravindra Jadeja is the only spin-bowling all-rounder in the team while Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav accompany him as spinners. Ravi Bishnoi and Varun Chakravarthy were among the notable absentees from the roster.
Pacers:In the pace bowling unit, Jasprit Bumrah had the company of Mohammed Siraj and Arshdeep Singh with him. The names of a few other players like T Natarajan, Mayank Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed etc. have also been discussed but Irfan went with the tried-and-tested combination among pacers.
Irfan Pathan’s 15-member Indian squad for T20 World Cup 2024: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh.
