Cricketer turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar picked his ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 team without the star batter Virat Kohli.
Virat Kohli who scripted various records with his bat played many crucial knocks for the Indian cricket team in all three formats. Virat Kohli ofter led the team to win the game with his extraordinary chasing ability.
Though Virat failed as a captain in ICC events, Kohli scored a whopping runs in the global event so far. Moreover, Virat Kohli is the leading run-scorer for India in the T20 World Cup 2014, 2016 and in 2022.
Speaking of Sanjay Manjrekar’s India squad for the global event, the controversial commentator picked Rohit Sharma as the captain and named KL Rahul as his deputy.
Along with KL Rahul, he also picked Sanju Samson, and Rishabh Pant and named Pant as the primary wicketkeeper for the event.
One of the most surprising exclusions was the Virat Kohli – the so-called King Kohli was excluded from his list instead Sanju Samson was included in his position.
Manjrekar picked the expected lower order which includes – Siraj, Bumrah, Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav. Though Chahal becomes the first player to bag 200 wickets in the IPL, his long absence from the Indian squad will reduce his chances.
He might exclude Virat Kohli based on his IPL 2024 performance. Though Kohli was the leading run scorer in the season so far his strike rate maintains below 150. In a T20 format game players are expected to maintain a high strike rate.
Manjrekar included Avesh Khan, Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav and Krunal Pandya as the backup players for the event. Notably, Harshit Rana and Mayank Yadav still didn’t make their debut for Indian cricket team.
- Rohit Sharma(c)
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- Sanju Samson
- Suryakumar Yadav
- Rishabh Pant(wk)
- KL Rahul(vc)
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Yuzvendra Chahal
- Kuldeep Yadav
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Mohammed Siraj
- Avesh Khan
- Harshit Rana
- Mayank Yadav
- Krunal Pandya
As per the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup schedule, the first match will be played between the USA and Canada on June 1 in Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas, Texas.
Apart from many other clashes, the India vs Pakistan match will be the most epic clash in the tournament. Understanding the heat of the clash, the broadcaster released a special promo for the match set to be played on June 9.
India and Pakistan were both placed under group A along with Ireland, Canada and the USA. India and Pakistan will face each other on June 9 in New York.