Dinesh Karthik picks India's T20 World Cup winners' combined XI, no place for 2007 champions Gautam Gambhir and Irfan Pathan

Former India wicketkeeper-batter and current Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) mentor Dinesh Karthik has picked a combined XI for India’s T20 World Cup winners from 2007 and 2024. Karthik picked MS Dhoni as captain ahead of Rohit Sharma and kept the hero of 2007 final, Gautam Gambhir out of the combined XI. 

In Karthik's XI, he picked Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as openers instead of Gambhir and Virender Sehwag. Rohit is the only Indian to feature in both T20 World Cup triumphs. At no.3, he went ahead with current T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav over Robin Uthappa. At no.4, he did not have to think much when asked to choose between Yuvraj Singh and Shivam Dube. Yuvraj was instrumental in the inaugural T20 World Cup, smashing Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over and contributing with a fiery 70 against Australia in the semifinal.

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Dhoni is Karthik's wicketkeeper-batter ahead of Rishabh Pant. Dhoni was a young captain who led India to World Cup glory after 24 years. Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja are two all-rounders. He snubbed Joginder Sharma and Irfan Pathan. 

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In the bowling department, he faced a tough challenge to pick between Harbhajan Singh and Axar Patel. With one left-arm orthodox spinner in the team already, he went for Harbhajan. While Harbhajan can hit the ball well, Axar is a better batter in the format. 

The rest of the bowlers are from the current era. He picked Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah. A fiery S Sreesanth and RP Singh did not make the cut in Karthik’s team. 

Dinesh Karthik's India all-time T20 World Cup XI: 

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah.

India’s two T20 World Cup final triumphs 

In Johannesburg against Pakistan, Gambhir starred with a 54-ball 75 whereas Rohit contributed with a cameo to help India post 157/5. RP Singha and Pathan picked up three wickets each. Joginder Sharma ended Misbah-ul-Haq's stay at the crease as Pakistan were bowled out for 152 and lost the match by five runs.

In 2024 T20 World Cup final, Virat Kohli scored a 59-ball 76. Axar's 31-ball 47 and Dube's 16-ball 27 steered India to 176/7 against Aiden Markram-led side. In the run chase, Heinrich Klaasen looked threatening but departed after reaching his fifty. Pandya turned the game with a three-fer. He had help from Arshdeep and Bumrah who claimed two wickets apiece.