As we inch closer to the high-voltage India-Pakistan tie in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, former cricketer VVS Laxman has picked his India’s playing XI for the clash. The arch-rivals will open their campaign with the derby on October 24 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

The Men in Blues had a good preparation, defeating England and Australia in the warm-up game. The batters looked in superlative touch which is bound to put the management in doubt as they sit to pick their playing XI.

2⃣ in 2⃣ for #TeamIndia! 🔝👌👌

India beat Australia and register their second win in a row in the warm-up games 👏👏#INDvAUS #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/CKL9oK7yI6

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 20, 2021

Speaking on Star Sports, the former India batter said India are spoilt for choices. VVS Laxman went with Rahul and Rohit Sharma as his openers instead. He also included Suryakumar Yadav at number five.

“They [India] are spoilt for choices. But I will go with Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul to open. No. 3 will be Virat Kohli, No. 4 will be Suryakumar Yadav, No. 5 Rishabh Pant, No. 6 Hardik Pandya, No. 7 will be Ravindra Jadeja, No. 8 will be Bhuvneshwar Kumar, No. 9 will be Bumrah”, Laxman said.

For numbers 10 and 11, VVS Laxman has opted to go with Varun Chakravarthy and Rahul Chahar. Strangely, the cricketer-turned-expert did not include Ravichandran Ashwin in his playing XI.

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“I will back the top seven to get the bulk of the runs” – VVS Laxman

VVS Laxman further stated that the top seven batters will be able to score a lot of runs and won’t allow the tail-end batters to bat.

“It’s a long tail but I will back the top seven to get the bulk of the runs”, he stated.

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