T20 World Cup: Zaheer Khan picks his 15-member India squad; no place for Shikhar Dhawan, Kuldeep Yadav

T20 World Cup: Zaheer Khan picks his 15-member India squad; no place for Shikhar Dhawan, Kuldeep Yadav

Shikhar Dhawan, Zaheer Khan and Kuldeep Yadav

Former India cricketer Zaheer Khan has named his 15-member squad of team India for the much-awaited ICC 2021 T20 World Cup, scheduled to take place in the UAE. The cricketer-turned-commentator picked a star-studded line-up headed by Virat Kohli that lacked the names of players like Shikhar Dhawan and Kuldeep Yadav.

The former left-hand pacer opted for Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul as the two openers, alongside skipper Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav at number three and four respectively. Surprisingly, India’s crucial middle-order batsman in white-ball cricket, Shreyas Iyer was missed out from Zaheer’s squad. He also mentioned that India should play an extra bowler in case Hardik Pandya doesn’t roll his arms.

“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 Cricbuzz.

Khan picked Yuzvendra Chahal over Rahul Chahar

Yuzvendra Chahal
Yuzvendra Chahal

Zaheer Khan went with Yuzvendra Chahal ahead of Rahul Chahar as the first-choice leg-spinner. He further reckoned that the Virat Kohli-led side can go with either Washington Sundar or Varun Chakravarthy to fill the spot of the second spinner in the playing XI.

“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 will 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.

Zaheer Khan’s squad

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

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