India’s T20 World Cup squad was announced on Monday and both Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik found a place in the 15-member squad. After the announcement, Dinesh Karthik took to Twitter to say that “dreams do come true.” Now, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has said that he would play both Pant and Karthik in his playing XI for the upcoming World Cup, and he gave the reasoning, saying risks need to be taken if you want to win a marquee event.
“I would play both Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik. At No.5, Rishabh Pant, No.6 Hardik Pandya or the vice-versa and I’ll play Dinesh Karthik at No.7. I would give with Hardik and four other options as bowlers. If you do not take risk, how will you win? You need to take risk in all departments then only you can get rewards,” Gavaskar told Sports Tak.
In the squad, Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel have also been named and hence the bowling department has strengthened. Gavaskar feels that the addition of these two will bolster the lineup and India will be in good hands.
“It is a good team. It is a balanced side, we have high hopes from them in terms of winning the World Cup. I think India can win the World Cup because of the balance. What happened in Asia Cup was a wake-up call, I am hopeful that this team will come back with the World Cup. The team that has been selected, we should support that. Now that the time has been announced, we should give our full backing,” said Gavaskar.
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“Our problem in the Asia Cup was that we did not have such bowlers that can defend a total. Now that, Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel have come back, these two are such bowlers who can defend targets and if you are bowling first, they can strike up front. The team has become stronger with these two coming together,” he added.
India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
Standby players - Mohd. Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar.
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