The All-India Senior Selection Committee recently announced the squad to travel for the ICC T20 Men’s World Cup in Australia, with several players marking their return to the team. Players such as Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel have made their return to the squad and Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel play the part of the spin specialists, with the latter replacing the injured Ravindra Jadeja. The players on standby are Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar and Shreyas Iyer. With the marquee tournament just over a month away, preparations for the tournament are already in motion as India take on Australia in a 3-match T20I series starting on 20th September 2022, followed by 3 T20Is and 3 ODI’s versus South Africa on 28th September, Live & Exclusive on the Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar.
Speaking exclusively on Star Sports show ‘Follow The Blues’, former chairman of the selection committee Krishnamachari Srikkanth and former ICC T20 World Cup Winner Irfan Pathan gave their preferred Playing XI for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Srikkanth said, “My playing 11, wherever you play, whether you’re playing in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney or Perth, my playing 11 is always fixed. For the first game – KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli – number three, Suryakumar Yadav – number four, number five is Hardik Pandya, number six is Rishabh Pant, number seven – Ashwin, eight – Chahal, 9, 10, 11 – in this particular team will be Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, (Jasprit) Bumrah and of course Harshal Patel.”
Irfan Pathan had a slightly different outlook on who should start in the playing XI for the Indian Team ahead of the World Cup. He said, “See, in my opinion, if you’re playing the first match, you need to have some experienced bowlers including one spinner. So, from the top, my playing 11 would be – Rohit, KL Rahul, number three – Virat (Kohli), number four – Suryakumar Yadav, number five – Deepak Hooda, number six – Hardik Pandya, number seven – Dinesh Karthik, number eight will be a right arm leg spinner so it would be (Yuzvendra) Chahal, 9 to 11, here there will be Jasprit Bumrah, Harshal Patel and along with that you can go for Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. So, there will be a combination here, three fast bowlers out of which two are quality fast bowlers, who will be able to bowl at the death as well. And I will make sure that I have the combination and the liberty to choose from the three fast bowlers, even Arshdeep (Singh) to handle the death bowling So, in my opinion, in the playing 11, the spinner is clear, it’s just whether I can make space for Arshdeep in the team.”
With all the excitement around the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup building up, fan clubs and super fans all over the country have joined in on the buzz by predicting their own playing XI ahead of the marquee tournament next month. With so many different permutations and combinations available to the playing side, it will be interesting to see how the team pans out as they look to find the ideal playing XI throughout the tournament.
The Bharat Army, Team India’s number 1 global supporter group, has put out what they feel will be India’s preferred playing XI to go forward in the tournament. The team is as follows-
Rohit Sharma 2. KL Rahul 3. Virat Kohli 4. Suryakumar Yadav 5. Rishabh Pant 6. Hardik Pandya 7. Axar Patel 8. Jasprit Bumrah 9. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar 10. Arshdeep Singh 11. Yuzvendra Chahal.
The Whistle Podu Army – The Official Chennai Super Kings Fan Club, also predicted the best starting
XI for the tournament with 6 bowling options in their starting line-up. The team is as follows-
1. Rohit Sharma 2. Rishabh Pant 3. Virat Kohli 4. Suryakumar Yadav 5. Hardik Pandya 6.Dinesh
Karthik 7. Harshal Patel 8. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar 9. Chahal/Axar 10. Jasprit Bumrah 11.
Arshdeep Singh
Mufaddal Vohra, an avid cricket fan joined in to give his predictions on the playing XI for the ICC
Men’s T20 World Cup. His team is as follows; 1. Rohit Sharma (C). 2. KL Rahul. 3. Virat Kohli. 4. Suryakumar Yadav. 5. Pant/Karthik (wk). 6. Hardik. 7. Bhuvneshwar Kumar. 8. Harshal Patel. 9. Yuzvendra Chahal. 10. Jasprit Bumrah. 11. Arshdeep
Team India fans can now join in on the party and be a part of the excitement as we build up to a
highly anticipated and exhilarating ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. All you’ve got to do is share your
predicted playing XI for the Indian Team for the T20 World Cup and stand a chance of getting
featured on Star Sports’ social media platforms!
Catch all the action of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup –from Sunday, 16th October to 13th November, 2022. Live & Exclusive on the Star Sports Network & Disney+ Hotstar.
