Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan wants India to pick two wrist-spinners – Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav – in the playing XI for the T20 World Cup ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal. Chahal is the leading wicket-taker as a spinner in IPL 2024 as he has bagged 13 wickets in seven matches.
Meanwhile, Kuldeep Yadav has scalped 12 wickets in seven matches of the ongoing season. But Ravi Bishnoi has picked only five wickets in nine matches for Lucknow Super Giants.
Pathan feels Yuzvendra Chahal’s fielding isn’t the best and thus he could be excluded from the team’s squad.
“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,” Pathan told Star Sports.
“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.”
“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 feels Jasprit Bumrah is an automatic selection but apart from the gun fast bowler, none of the other pacers pick themselves.
“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 former India cricketer said.
“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,” he said.
The Indian selection panel, led by Ajit Agarkar, is soon expected to announce the T20 World Cup squad.
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