- Dec 2, 2024
- Oct 12, 2023
Former India pacer RP Singh feels that India has not performed well to earn the favourites tag to win the upcoming T20 World Cup after their debacle in the Asia Cup 2022. The Rohit Sharma-led side suffered defeats to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super 4 stage as they failed to enter the final of the multilateral tournament.
A lot of questions were left unanswered after India’s show in the Asia Cup. They will play the T20I series against Australia and South Africa to iron out their flaws ahead of the 20-20 World Cup. Meanwhile, former skipper Virat Kohli returned to form in the Asia Cup and ended up as India’s leading run-getter in the 2022 edition of the tournament.
The Indian left-arm pacer suggested that India should resist making many changes to their squad in the upcoming T20I series as constant shuffling will create more confusion in the camp and will also impact the morale of the players.
“After their performance in the Asia Cup, India won’t go to the T20 World Cup as favourites. If you really want to earn that trophy, you need to do minimal changes in the squad and back the 11-12 players in the upcoming games against Australia and South Africa. If you continue to shuffle, it will only cause more confusion,” Singh told India TV Cricket on Saturday.
RP further picked his fifteen-man squad for the T20 World Cup where he made some interesting picks by keeping Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami in the mix and had no place for Deepak Hooda and Ravichandran Ashwin.
“I will pick Shami because the pace and bounce will help him bowl back of a length which is his strength. I have also added Kuldeep Yadav because even he can exploit the bounce factor in Australia. KL Rahul might not be in the XI but will definitely be a part of the squad,” he added.
RP Singh’s squad: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, KL Rahul, Deepak Chahar.
Standbys: Deepak Hooda, Sanju Samson, Ravichandran Ashwin