"You need the big boys to go in and play" - R Sridhar picks India's bowling attack for T20 World Cup
Former fielding coach R Sridhar has picked India's bowling unit for the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, scheduled to take place in Australia later this year.
The Men in Blue have rotated their fast bowlers, giving them enough rest to be fit ahead of the mega event. Jasprit Bumrah has played only one T20I game since IPL 2022, while Mohammad Shami last played a T20I game in 2021.
Despite Shami's chances of making it to Australia looking bleak, Sridhar feels all the big guns should be on the final roaster. Speaking on cricket.com on Thursday, he said:
"When it comes to World Cup, when it comes to big tournaments you need the big boys to go in and play and these three (Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Bumrah & Shami) are the big boys as far as fast bowling is concerned and backed by another big boy Hardik Pandya."
@MohitBararia7 We already have Shami, Bumrah and Bhuvi. Don't see any place for a new comer in the T20 World Cup 2022 unless we are playing against Associate/ Weak teams. The cruelty of IPL talent is that it goes under utilised.
Sridhar also picked Bumrah, Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as his first-choice pacers for the multi-nation tournament later this year. He said:
"I think we have a problem of plenty isn't it? I mean, we are blessed with that. At the moment, I think our top three fast bowlers will be Bumrah, Shami and Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar).
"If you have this, you have an absolute banker, a new bowler and a death-ball bowler in Bhuvi, provided he's in the best shape of his fitness. You have Mohammad Shami who will come up with a new ball and ask a lot of questions to the best opening batters in the world. You can probably bowl Bhuvi two, Shami two and now that Hardik is bowling, Jadeja is another all-rounder, so you have your fifth and sixth bowlers covered."
Sridhar concluded by picking Yuzvendra Chahal as the specialist spinner in the T20 World Cup squad:
"Obviously you're putting a leg- spinner in the mix, so that's the grand master Chahal as I would like to call it. So that, to me, is what the bowling combination India should go with."
"He's a man who will ask so many questions" - R Sridhar picks Ravichandran Ashwin as backup spinner in the Indian squad
Ashwin has made a good impact in T20I since he returned to the Indian team in the 2021 T20 World Cup:
Matches - 6
Wickets - 11
Economy Rate - 5.29
Bowling Average - 11.55
#IndvWI
Sridhar, who has seen this Indian squad from close quarters, picked veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin as the second-choice spinner after Chahal.
Throwing his weight behind Ashwin's inclusion in the Indian squad, Sridhar explained:
"With push comes to shove, you have the legendary Ravichandran Ashwin to go back to if you need to. You know in T20 cricket, he's a man who will ask so many questions to any batter in the world."
India will begin their ICC T20 World Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 23 at the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground.