Sunil Gavaskar, the legendary Indian opener, has made a surprising pick for the third slot in the Men in Blue’s ideal T20 World Cup playing XI. He wants young Yashasvi Jaiswal to bat third, with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli opening against Ireland on Wednesday, June 5.
This will be India’s T20 World Cup 2024 opening match and will be played at the Nassau County International Cricket Ground in New York, USA.
There has been much speculation over whether Rohit and Kohli will begin the batting, given Jaiswal did not bat at all in their warm-up match against Bangladesh.
However, Gavaskar believes the teenager can do the job at No. 3 and has stocked his batting lineup with Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, and two seam-bowling all-rounders, Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube.
“I don’t really like selecting teams because you can never satisfy everybody they’ll always be somebody’s favourite player who’s not being picked but here is my effort to try and pick the 11 for the game against Ireland.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to open the batting along with Yashasvi Jaiswal at three Surya Kumar Yadav at four Rishabh Pant at five at number six, I would have Hardik Pandya number seven would be Ravindra Jadeja number eight mean not necessarily in that batting order Shivam Dube,” Sunil Gavaskar said in a video on Star Sports.
Sunil Gavaskar ignores Arshdeep Singh as he goes with only three specialist bowlers in India’s XI
Meanwhile, on the bowling front, Sunil Gavaskar completely ignored the core bowling ideas and went with just three proper bowlers in the India XI for the Ireland match in New York. In a surprise, Gavaskar opted not to pick Arshdeep Singh in the XI, despite him picking 3 wickets in the warmup game against Bangladesh.
To compliment Jadeja, Gavaskar chose two pacers, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, as well as Kuldeep Yadav’s left-arm wrist spin. He expects Hardik and Dube to cover the fifth bowler’s overs. Jaiswal might also contribute with his leg spin if needed.
Sunil Gavaskar’s India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
#SunilGavaskar opts for experience with @imVkohli & @ImRo45 at the 🔝
A surprise inclusion at number 3, plenty of batting options and two pacers! 😮
What changes would you make to this team?
📺 | #INDvIRE | 5th June, 6 PM | #T20WorldCupOnStar pic.twitter.com/6hQx6EJmhD
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) June 4, 2024