Hints of the combination that head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma are looking at were dropped during India’s only warm-up match against Bangladesh, which India won comprehensively by 60 runs.
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In all, 12 players from India’s 15-member squad played the practice game, with Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal being the notable absentees. Kohli had joined the squad in New York late, after a short personal break following the conclusion of the Indian Premier League.
Joining the list of experts who have predicted their playing XIs for India, former India captain and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar revealed his team sheet, which included a couple of surprises, namely Jaiswal at No. 3 and left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh missing from the line-up.
“I don’t really like selecting teams because you cannot satisfy everybody,” said Gavaskar in a video posted by tournament’s official broacaster Star Sports. “There will always be somebody’s favourite player who is not being picked. Here’s my effort to try and pick the eleven for the game against Ireland.”
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“Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj,” Gavaskar listed out his preferred line-up for India XI.
While Gavaskar didn’t give reasons for his selection and the players he omitted, it is a shared opinion among experts that Kohli will open batting with captain Rohit. But where many have left Jaiswal out of the squad, Gavaskar included him at No. 3.
Also, leaving out a left-arm pacer, Arshdeep, from the eleven was a surprising decision. Arshdeep registered the best figures among Indian bowlers in the warm-up game against Bangladesh, with 2 for 12 in three overs.
Besides India and Ireland, Group A consists of Pakistan, co-hosts USA and Canada.
After opening their campaign against Ireland, India will take on Pakistan in tournament’s big game on June 9 in New York.
