While the Indian cricket team’s roster for the 2022 T20 World Cup has a tried-and-true appearance, several observers noticed a few exclusions. Krishnamachari Srikkanth, a former member of the Indian cricket team and a participant in the 1983 World Cup, believed that Mohammed Shami should have been selected over Harshal Patel for the starting lineup. “If I was the chairman of the selection committee, (Mohammad) Shami is definitely in the team. We are playing in Australia, the guy’s got the real action, the guy’s got bounce, he can bare the moment and he can get on early wickets, so I would have probably got Shami instead of Harshal Patel,” Srikkanth said.
While Shami concluded the IPL 2022 as the sixth-highest wicket-taker with 20 kills, Harshal finished as a very good pace option in T20s. A viewer of Sports Tak asked former India captain Sunil Gavaskar for his opinion on Harshal Patel during a conversation. The fan questioned, “Harshal Australia mein maar Kha sakte (Harshal can get hammered in Australia)” Harshal doesn’t have much pace, and given the Australian pitches, hitters can target him. Gavaskar did not dismiss the inquiry. “Aagey jaa kar dekhenge na, unki pitai kaise ho sakti hai. Aap ne pehle se hi tay kar diya, pitai hoti hai. Yaar match hone dijiye na. Match hone ke baad aap bol sakte hain ‘aisa ho gaya, waisa ho gaya’. (We will see that once the tournament starts. How can you already decide that he will go for runs? You came to a conclusion because he bowls slowly. At least let the match happen first. Then sure, you can say that ‘This happened, that happened),” replied Gavaskar during the show on Sports Tak.
India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
Standby players – Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar.
