Former 2-time IPL winning captain Gautam Gambhir has selected his Indian playing XI for the Men in Blue’s ICC T20 World Cup 2021 opener against the Pakistan cricket team, scheduled to happen on October 24. Gambhir made some interesting selections. He did not pick Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as the opening pair. Instead, he decided to go in with the duo of KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma as openers.
Gambhir believed the Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli should bat at the number three position only, with Suryakumar Yadav batting at number four. The former Indian batsman decided against picking Ishan Kishan as the wicket-keeper batsman. He backed Rishabh Pant to don the wicket-keeping gloves for the Indian team against Pakistan.
The two all-rounders that Gautam Gambhir picked in his playing XI were Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja. He completed the playing XI by picking three fast bowlers and one spin bowlers. He did not consider the experienced option available in the form of Ravichandran Ashwin but decided to name Varun Chakravarthy in the team. The last three names were of the fast bowlers – Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.
“KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma to open the batting, Virat Kohli to bat at No.3, Suryakumar Yadav at No.4, Rishabh Pant at No.5, Hardik at No.6, Jadeja at No.7, Bhuvi at No.8, Varun Chakravarthy at No.9, Shami at No.10 and Bumrah No.11. Probably had I had Shardul Thakur, I would have picked him to bat at No.8 and Varun Chakravarthy at No 9.” Gautam Gambhir said during his appearance on Star Sports show Follow The Blues.
Gautam Gambhir Indian playing XI for the 1st match of the ICC T20 World Cup against Pakistan
KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (C), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun CV, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah.
