Former all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes the Indian team should pick LSG leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi ahead of RR spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in their squad for the T20 World Cup 2024. Irfan also stated that India must select five specialist bowlers and two wrist spinners for the forthcoming T20 World Cup, which will be held in the Caribbean and the United States. With the May 1 squad announcement date approaching quickly, talks about the composition of India’s roster for the showpiece event, which begins on June 2, have escalated.
“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.”
Pathan does not support bringing up RR spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for the World Cup. “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 acknowledged that Jasprit Bumrah is the only automatic selection among the bowlers. “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.
