Harbhajan Singh, the former India cricketer has shared his predictions on who’ll be India’s first-choice keeper in the T20 World Cup between Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson. He also gave his pick of the winner between arch-rivals India and Pakistan.
The T20 World Cup 2024 will begin on June 1st and the final will be played on June 29. The USA and the West Indies are jointly hosting the tournament with USA hosting any ICC event for the first time.
India has been placed in Group A with Canada, USA, Ireland, and Pakistan and will play their first match on June 5 against Ireland. Their big-ticket match against Pakistan will be played on June 9 with the venue being the Nassau County Cricket Stadium in New York.
India has only lost one game to Pakistan in the history of World Cup cricket, which came in the 2021 T20 World Cup in Dubai.
Harbhajan Singh believed that India had a much better squad than Pakistan for the tournament and said that the Men in Blue should not find it too troubling to beat their arch-rivals.
“I am sure we will win against Pakistan, we have a great track record against them and have a better team,” Harbhajan Singh was quoted by India Today.
Sanju Samson played really well: Harbhajan Singh picks him over Rishabh Pant
Former cricketer Harbhajan Singh believes Sanju Samson should be selected ahead of Rishabh Pant in India’s T20 World Cup squad. Harbhajan stated that Samson has been outstanding throughout the season and deserves to be rewarded for his consistency.
Samson led RR to the IPL playoffs in the 2024 season. Rajasthan were dominant for the duration of the IPL 2024 but lost their dominance near the end of the competition. Samson was rewarded with a long-awaited call-up to the Indian team for an ICC event.
“Rishabh Pant played well in the IPL. He has come out of his injuries. He looked fit, batted well and did some nice wicketkeeping. But Sanju played really well. I would like to see him get a chance. He has been performing consistently. He has been scoring 60s and 70s and is not the old Sanju anymore who would score just 30s and 40s. But there has been no hurry in bringing Pant back, he worked really hard. I hope he does something special for India,” Harbhajan said.
The spinner further argued that adding 4 spinners to the squad was a little bit of an overkill, and the decision forced Rinku Singh out of the Indian line-up.
“The World Cup team has been selected. The batting is good. I think we are one fast bowler short. One player that I think we will miss is Rinku Singh, because he is someone who can win the match single-handedly for us. He can chase down 60 runs in 20 balls. I think selecting four spinners is a bit too much. Three would have been enough. I wish Team India all the best, hope they bring the cup,” Harbhajan said.
India will play four of its matches in New York and one in Florida in Group A stage.
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