Kohli and Rohit to Open, Pant at 3, Chahal to Miss Out – Dinesh Karthik on India’s XI for T20 World Cup 2024

With India’s opening game in the T20 World Cup approaching ever so closer, many questions have been asked about how the Indian team will be lining up ahead of their opening game against Ireland in New York. Dinesh Karthik seems to have a good idea of the starting 11.

Speaking with Cricbuzz, the former Indian international was seen reacting to India’s performance against Bangladesh in their only warm-up game ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024. The match took place in New York and it was an all-round dominant show by the Indian team where the likes of Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh were the star performers.

DK delivered massive praise for Pant who smashed a fifty coming in at number three which helped the Men in Blue get back in the game after the early dismissal of Sanju Samson and Rohit Sharma.

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“Rishabh Pant smashed it and batted beautifully. They lost Sanju Samson early, Rohit started okay but got it. It was a Rishabh Pant show, batted beautifully. The interesting part is whether they are looking at him as the number 3 or 4, which I think they will. The way he started was very very good”, said the former Indian wicketkeeper.

Speaking on how the Indian team would be composed, DK suggested that the side might go ahead with Axar Patel along with Ravindra Jadeja in the 11 considering that he also provides a quality batting option lower down the order.

He added, “I have a feeling that they are keen on playing Axar. The fact that he also gives batting at number 8 and the fact that Chahal did not bowl tells us that they are looking at Axar to start the tournament”.

Shivam Dube who also got the chance to bowl, impressed in the final over where he picked up 2 consecutive wickets. But Dinesh Karthik does not read into that too much but values his skills as a ‘worthy seventh bowling option’.

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“That was right at the end, don’t want to read too much into that since we already have six good bowlers. But he is a worthy seventh bowling option to have if push comes to shove. On these slow pitches he will be good,” DK commented.

He added, “He bowled a lovely couple of slower ones in the 20th over, he got two wickets in those last few balls”.

As for how the Indian team would look for the opening game against Ireland, the former RCB man suggested that it would be both Rohit and Virat opening the innings and believes that Yuzi Chahal would miss out.

DK’s Prediction for India’s XI in T20 World Cup 2024: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh

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