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The much-awaited T20 World Cup 2022 is just a few months away now and the build-up around the same is already unmatchable. With every T20 series being played, fans and cricket experts are keeping a close eye on each player’s performance. And as India recently concluded their 5-match T20I series against South Africa, the race to pick an ideal squad or playing XI for the biennial event is up and running.
Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan also took part in this race and named his ideal Playing XI of India for the T20 World Cup scheduled to take place in October-November. The former pacer picked some obvious names while leaving out some big names including Rishabh Pant. Pathan preferred in-form Dinesh Karthik as his wicketkeeper batter in his eleven. Shreyas Iyer also failed to find a place in Irfan Pathan’s eleven.
The former India cricketer stuck with the experienced trio of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli for the top three batting positions. Despite an ordinary show with the bat in the recently concluded IPL 2022, Pathan imposed faith in Virat Kohli considering his numbers in the continent.
“In Australia, you need powerful starts because the ball swings and seams a lot. So you need a player who has a lot of experience,” Pathan said on Star Sports. “Kohli may not have performed well so far, but in Australia, he has scored a lot of runs,” he added.
No place for Mohammed Shami either
Other than Rishabh Pant, Irfan Pathan also omitted Mohammed Shami and went with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, and Jasprit Bumrah as his pace attack. For India’s spin attack, the former pacer picked Ravindra Jadeja and Yuzvendra Chahal. Notably, R Ashwin failed to find a place in Pathan’s eleven.
Irfan Pathan's playing XI for T20 WC 2022: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah