Reetinder Sodhi has recently named his preferred 15-member Indian squad for the upcoming mega event – T20 World Cup. While the main Indian team is in England for the upcoming five-match Test series, the young team has just played a limited-overs series against Sri Lanka. However, only a few could impress everyone with their show as well.
During a discussion on India News, Sodhi has opined that Shikhar Dhawan’s experience will help him to get a spot ahead of Ishan Kishan as the backup opener as well.
He explained: “Shikhar Dhawan on experience. We need experience for a mega event, the T20 World Cup. Ishan Kishan is a very talented player but I feel Shikhar Dhawan can prove to be more useful. So you take him as a reserve opener and get KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma to open.”
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Meanwhile, the veteran has named Mohammed Siraj and Shreyas Iyer in his team as a pacer and the middle-order batsman respectively as well. Reetinder Sodhi elaborated: “If we talk about bowlers, Mohammed Siraj has set the stage on fire. He bowls amazingly well and has the experience as well. If we talk about Shreyas Iyer, he is a match-winner. He has played international cricket and won innumerable matches in the IPL.”
However, Shreyas Iyer has been out of action for quite some time now ever since he suffered a shoulder injury during the limited-overs series against England. But, he is likely to play in the IPL to be in contention for a spot in the Indian T20 World Cup squad.
However, the veteran feels that the IPL could play a huge role in Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan’s selections for the mega event as well. Reetinder Sodhi said that experience players are needed during pressure situations as well.
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He observed: “My opinion is you can take the youngsters but they have to be backed by experience because there will be a lot of adrenaline rush in this tournament and only experienced players can handle the pressure. A lot can change after the IPL. We are talking about Bhuvneshwar and Shikhar Dhawan, they have not done anything special. But we all know they are match-winners. They can be the ultimate selection if they catch form in the IPL.”
Reetinder Sodhi’s preferred Indian squad for the T20 World Cup:
Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
