Former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan has picked his India squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in the UAE. The event will be played in the UAE between October-November. The qualifiers will be played from October 18, while the group stage begins from 24. India are placed alongside Pakistan, Afghanistan and New Zealand in group B. Meanwhile, the young Indian team coached by Rahul Dravid lost the T20I series against Sri Lanka. The series was the only international T20I sereis that the side played ahead of the event. Many players in the squad were seen as potential choices for the upcoming event. However, the series did not go as expected with the players failing to perform.
Zaheer Khan Drops Shikhar Dhawan From His T20 World Cup Squad
Zaheer Khan in an interaction with Cricbuzz picked his India squad for the T20 World Cup. While he made some interesting choices, he left out some interesting names as well. He chose KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma as his openers with no place for Shikhar Dhawan. Dhawan who led the Indian team in Sri Lanka did not have a series to remember personally.
“I will open with KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma. Virat and Surya will follow them. I know Virat has made the statement that he wants to open the innings. But I would still say that Virat only opens in case Hardik is not available to bowl. In that scenario, you can sacrifice one batsman and get an extra bowler,” Zaheer told on Cricbuzz.
Among the wrist spinners, he opted for Yuzvendra Chahal and Rahul Chahar not axing the likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya from his squad. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is also not a certainty in Zaheer’s final XI as he said. The former left-arm pacer also had his doubts over the Varun Chakravarty and Washington Sundar. Unable to reach a conclusion, he kept both in his squad. Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and T Natarajan are the other pacers in his squad.
“I have Chahal as the lead leg spinner and also went in with Rahul Chahar as his backup. In this format, we have seen that leg spinner is such a crucial factor. Chakravarthy/Sundar will be the spinners who would be bowling with the new ball. If you want that mystery element, you can choose Chakravarthy, but otherwise, you can go in with Sundar as well,” he added.
Also Read: 5 Unknown Facts About Sri Lanka All-Rounder Wanindu Hasaranga
Zaheer Khan’s India Squad For T20 World Cup 2021
Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Rahul Chahar, T Natarajan/Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Washington Sundar/Varun Chakravarthy
