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India have already started their preparations for the 2022 T20 World Cup. Although there are more than five months left for the mega event, the permutations and combinations around the T20 World Cup squad have already started coming out. Cricket analysts and experts are expressing their views on which players should be sent on the flight to Australia and who would be missing that plane.
2007 T20 World Cup-winning player Gautam Gambhir who is known for his out-of-the-box predictions and bold statements has also taken a chance at predicting India’s squad for the biennial event. The former India batter did not pick a full-fledged squad but shared his views on India’s top-three for the mega event in October-November. Gautam Gambhir surprisingly missed two big names while naming the top three for the inaugural edition champions.
While talking to Star Sports, Gautam Gambhir picked Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, and Suryakumar Yadav to bat in the top three positions for India at the 2022 T20 World Cup. While he chose Ishan Kishan as Rohit Sharma’s opening partner, Gambhir went with Suryakumar Yadav ahead of Virat Kohli for the No.3 position. Much to everyone’s surprise, Gambhir also omitted KL Rahul who has been considered Sharma’s opening partner in the long run. "Ishan Kishan & Rohit Sharma to open, Suryakumar Yadav at number 3 for me," said Gambhir on Star Sports.
No KL Rahul?
While Kohli’s omission was understood to an extent as the star batter had a forgettable IPL 2022 (having scored only 341 runs in 16 matches at 22.73), Ishan Kishan in place of KL Rahul was the biggest surprise. Rahul had a great season with the bat having scored 616 runs in 15 matches while opening for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2022. Also, Gautam Gambhir was with Lucknow as the mentor of the new franchise. The duo seemed to have formed a great camaraderie as they took LSG to Playoffs in their debut season.