T20 World Cup 2021: Parthiv Patel picks probable Team India XI for tournament

While
the
showpiece
event
has
already
started
with
preliminary
round
1
fixtures,
India
begin
their
campaign
in
round
2
–
the
Super
12
phase,
which
is
set
to
start
from
Saturday
(October
23).

Before
their
opener,
India,
who
have
played
one
warm
up
match
against
England,
will
face
Australia
in
their
second
and
final
practice
match
on
Wednesday
(October
20).
And
this
is
when
Virat
Kohli
will
get
a
clear
picture
of
his
team.

In
the
first
warm
up
match,
which
India
defeated
England
by
7
wickets,
Rohit
Sharma,
Shardul
Thakur,
Ravindra
Jadeja
and
Varun
Chakravarthy
played
no
part,
and
the
quartet
could
feature
against
Australia
in
the
second
warm
up
match.

With
picking
the
best
XI
in
mind,
Parthiv
said
India
skipper
Virat
Kohli
is
absolutely
sure
about
the
combination
he
wants
to
go
with,
but
the
only
question
will
be
if
he
wants
to
go
with
Shardul
Thakur
or
Bhuvneshwar
as
the
third
pacer.

“I
am
sure
Virat
knows
his
playing
XI
and
probably
not
the
names,
but
I
am
sure
he
knows
what
combination
he
wants
to
go
with.
To
me,
the
question
will
be,
should
you
play
Bhuvneshwar
Kumar
or
Shardul
Thakur,”
Parthiv
said
on
Star
Sports’ show
‘Cricket
Connected’.

Jasprit
Bumrah
will
be
the
X-factor
for
India
in
T20
World
Cup:
Gautam
Gambhir
and
Irfan
Pathan

Ishan
Kishan
played
a
match
winning
70,
but
Parthiv
believes
Rohit
Sharma
and
KL
Rahul
will
open
the
innings
followed
by
Kohli,
Suryakumar
Yadav
and
Rishabh
Pant.

“Probably
Rohit
Sharma
and
KL
Rahul
to
open
Virat
at
No
3,
Suryakumar
at
No
4,
Rishabh
at
No
5,”
Parthiv
said
on
the
batting
order.

Despite
Hardik
Pandya
not
bowling
so
far,
Parthiv
feels
the
all-rounder
will
be
used
as
a
finisher
and
the
only
toss
up
in
the
playing
11
will
be
between
the
third
pacer.

“Hardik
–
even
if
he
is
not
bowling,
he
is
picked
as
someone
who
can
finish
the
game
–
Ravindra
Jadeja,
Rahul
Chahar,
Shami,
Bumrah
and
the
last
choice
will
be
between
Shardul
Thakur
and
Bhuvneshwar
Kumar,”
he
added.

With
Hardik
not
bowling,
the
team
has
been
imbalanced
as
they
can’t
bring
in
a
sixth
bowler
if
one
of
the
five
have
a
bad
day
at
the
office
like
Bhuvneshwar
gave
away
54
runs
in
his
4
overs
against
England.

ICC
T20
World
Cup
2021:
India
vs
Australia
Warm-Up
Game:
Date,
Venue,
Timings,
Where
to
Watch

However,
Kohli
will
have
a
chance
to
see
how
Shardul
Thakur,
who
is
on
the
back
of
a
fantastic
IPL
season
with
Chennai
Super
Kings,
does
in
the
warm
up
match
against
Australia
before
their
Super
12
opener.

India
will
face
their
arch-rival
Pakistan
at
the
Dubai
International
Cricket
Stadium
in
Dubai
on
October
24
and
play
New
Zealand
a
week
later
on
October
31
at
the
same
venue.

(With
Agency
inputs)