At present the eyes of the whole country are on the team to be announced for the T20 World Cup which will take place at UAE from 17th October this year. Every cricket lover of the country is busy making his favorite team at this time. I have also formed my own team. The fans of India News have also formed a team. This is a good initiative. With such a move the selectors also get to know the public opinion. Actually it is the fans who make the game huge.
I think Shikhar Dhawan or Prithvi Shaw will play with Rohit Sharma as an opener, that is a big question. Dhawan has the experience while Prithvi Shaw’s performance in domestic cricket has been phenomenal. If selectors go with experience, then the chances of Shikhar is better. Apart from this, I have Mohammed Shami in my team while the fans have given place to Mohammad Siraj in the team. Still, I congratulate my fans that they have done a good initiative through India News. It is quite obvious to have ideological differences while making a team, but that cannot reduce the importance of the fans.
The reason for including Mohammed Shami in his team is his experience and he is an attacking bowler. The World Cup is a big platform where experience counts. Jasprit Bumrah has also returned from injury. He has played all four Test matches against England. There is a lot of hope from him in the World Cup as well. Siraj is also a talented bowler but when it comes to experience, Shami will beat him.
Similarly, among the fast bowlers, one will be selected between T. Natarajan and Bhuvneshwar, while only one between Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya can get a place. Krunal Pandya has the ability to improve the strike rate while Rahul Chahar is a better bowler than him. It will depend a lot on the selectors whether they want to take a utility player or a better bowler.
My predicted team is as follows
Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Prithvi Shaw/Shikhar Dhawan, Yazuvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar/Krunal Pandya, Deepak Chahar, T. Natarajan / Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishan Kishan
India News Fans predicted team – Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Yazuvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Rahul Chahar, T Natarajan, Akshar Patel.
Writer is a Dronacharya Awardee and a coach of Virat Kohli.