While many cricket pundits are giving their opinions on team selection and combination, Ashish Nehra has named his 15-man Indian squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.
The former Indian pacer picked Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul for the opening duties. When asked to justify struggling Rahul’s position in the team, he said:
“We still have a long way to go as far as the T20 World Cup is concerned, so I think we will see a lot from KL Rahul in the next six games.”
Virat Kohli was the obvious pick in the squad for No. 3. Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant have also made it into the squad as both the batters can swap positions according to the situation, believes Nehra.
“SKY should be in the eleven because you then have an alternative to Rishabh Pant. You can swap the two—on 4 or 5.”
Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik and Deepak Hooda are the other picks who can bat in the lower middle-order and finish games for the team.
Apart from regular names Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja, Nehra also emphasized the role of Ravi Ashwin in the side.
“Not only Chahal and Jadeja are important, even Ravi Ashwin is also important. Even if he plays, he can make an impact,” he said.
Jasprit Bumrah, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh are the four pacers named in the squad for the marquee event. However, experienced Mohammed Shami was left out and speaking on his exclusion, the 43-year-old said:
“One name, however, comes in my mind and that is Mohammad Shami. Being a Test specialist, he hasn’t attracted that much focus from the selectors. And I am not saying this because I saw him up and close in Gujarat Titans.”
Ashish Nehra’s 15-man India Squad for the T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Hooda.
