As the T20 World Cup draws closer, the discussion on India’s squad for the mega event has become a hot topic. While the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli missed the recently-concluded T20I series against South Africa, the form of Ishan Kishan and Dinesh Karthik in the series has definitely given the team management a selection headache. While Kishan emerged as the highest run-scorer in the series, Karthik was the Indian batter with the best strike rate, something that India would want from the match-finisher going into the world event, starting October 16 in Australia.
Among the many selection headaches, one that might trouble the Indian team management the most would be which wicketkeeper to pick for the playing XI.
While Pant has been India’s first-choice for a long time now, Karthik has emerged as his biggest competitor of late, courtesy his recent batting form.
As other cricket pundits have already started predicting their squads for the world event in Australia later this year, former India cricketer Irfan Pathan also picked his team.
On Star Sports, Irfan Pathan picked his playing XI for the T20 World Cup. Rishabh Pant was one of the prominent names missing from his playing XI with the former fast bowler picking Dinesh Karthik instead.
Before he revealed his preference, Pathan was asked on Star Sports on Sunday if Pant would be disappointed with his batting performance in the South Africa series that ended in a 2-2 draw.
To it, the former all-rounder said: “Yes, he must be disappointed with himself… He is getting criticised for always getting out in a similar fashion and he needs to change that… Pant is powerful player, but if he could extend his range, his career can be much better.”
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While talking about Dinesh Karthik after it, Pathan said: “You rarely find a player with such range of shots. He plays spin and fast well. If you ask him to play attacking cricket from the word go, he can even do that and for a finisher, this is extremely important.”
Irfan Pathan’s India XI for 2022 T20 World Cup: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Jasprit Bumrah.
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