Former India all-rounder feels that Mohammed Shami should walk into Team India’s eleven ahead of Harshal Patel for Sunday’s big encounter against Pakistan. The two teams will resume the arch-rivalry when they collide in their first Super 12 encounter of the T20 World Cup 2022. The epic clash will be hosted by the MCG.
While Pakistan is at its full strength, India is missing two major players from their first-choice eleven – Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah, who are ruled out of the tournament due to knee and back injuries, respectively.
The injury to Bumrah also forced the selectors and management to recall Mohammed Shami, who was first in the reserves and then was added to the main squad, and could potentially play against Pakistan after his one-over heroic against Australia in the warm-up match.
Defending 11 runs against Australia, Shami conceded only 4 runs and took three wickets, albeit of tailenders. This must have given India a lot of confidence in his rhythm, but Shami had been unremarkable in the IPL 2022, but his powerplay excellence masked his death bowling woes.
Irfan Pathan drops Harshal Patel from his India XI
Bhuvneshwar and Arshdeep are all but certain to play, this means India could leave out Harshal Patel for Shami if they decide to pick him, which Irfan Pathan thinks so. Or, Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid could also go with just one spinner in Axar and pick 4 seamers, but that’s unlikely.
In his India XI which Irfan Pathan announced on Twitter on Sunday morning, the former India all-rounder also asserted that he’d ponder over including Deepak Hooda as a batting all-rounder whenever possible – but that is unlikely as the top-five is set in stone. Pathan dropped Harshal Patel, which means a longish tail with Axar at 7 and Bhuvneshwar at 8.
“1) Rohit 2) Rahul 3) Virat 4) Sky 5) Hardik 6) DK 7) Akshar 8) Bhuvi 9) Shami 10) Arshdeep 11) Chahal. I will be tempted to play Hooda as 6th bowler whenever I can get a chance. What’s your 11? #INDvPAK,” Irfan Pathan tweeted.
1) Rohit 2) Rahul 3) Virat 4) Sky 5) Hardik 6) DK 7) Akshar 8) Bhuvi 9) Shami 10) Arshdeep 11) Chahal. I will be tempted to play Hooda as 6th bowler whenever I can get a chance. What’s your 11 ? #INDvPAK
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) October 23, 2022
