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As the May 1 deadline looms for teams to finalise their squads for the men’s T20 World Cup, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan suggested that the Indian team should include Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi instead of Rajasthan Royals (RR) spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for the T20 World Cup 2024 line up. Irfan also said that India must pick five specialist bowlers along with two wrist-spinners in their squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup to be played in West Indies and the USA, starting from June 1. He also picked Kuldeep Yadav in his playing XI along with Ravi Bishnoi.
“You need five good bowlers — that's a must. What are your wicket-taking options? When you're talking about Ravindra Jadeja at No. 8 and playing as a spin (all-rounder), I would rather have two wrist-spinners playing. I would rather have two proper wrist-spinners playing, (Ravi) Bishnoi and Kuldeep (Yadav), in my playing XI. If you look at Bishnoi's numbers, you know, when he played, he was pretty good,” Pathan told Star Sports.
However, Pathan doesn’t want RR spinner Yuzvendra Chahal should be included in the T20 World Cup squad. He also talked about his fielding.
"Yes, we're talking about Chahal right now because of the IPL performances but don't forget the fielding part of it as well. If you have to balance the fielding, you have to balance where a bowler can bowl at the particular area," he said.
Pathan said that Jasprit Bumrah is the only player whose selection is certain among the bowlers. He also opined that Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj will be the three pacers in the T20 World Cup squad. Pathan is not in favour of calling up young Mayank Yadav as he doesn't have any experience on the grand stage.
"There's only one player who you can blindly say (certain for selection) is Bumrah. But apart from Bumrah, you need at least two fast bowlers who can be part of the regular XI. The biggest problem the Indian team has is the combination of fast bowling. It's very important to fix that combination, so go towards experience. With Bumrah, you can see (Mohammed) Siraj and Arshdeep (Singh) there, which I don't think is ideal, but this is the only option you have now," the former India cricketer said.
Meanwhile, India batter K Srikkanth does not support bringing up Siraj for the World Cup.
"Bumrah is in the squad. Arshdeep as well. But the third pacer can't be Siraj. He'll bowl well in one game and then not perform in 10 games. He's an erratic bowler, you saw it in the World Cup,” he said.
“That's why I'm saying we should look at who's bowling well in the death overs, and that is Avesh Khan. He's been performing well and he's done well on the international front, he has a little experience as well. He's mastered the wide yorkers also,” Srikkanth added.
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