Irfan Pathan comes up with his playing XI for the 20-20 World Cup 2022, leaves out Rishabh Pant and Arshdeep Singh

Irfan Pathan-Indian Cricket Team (Source- Twitter)

India announced the squad for the 20-20 World Cup 2022 on September 12. Since then, many experts, including Irfan Pathan, have named their playing XI for the tournament. Many experts even questioned the exclusion of Mohammed Shami from the main squad. Albeit the player has been named in the reserves, it is unlikely he'll make it to the main squad. 

The former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has now come up with his playing XI from the squad. The former great opined that he would not have Rishabh Pant in his playing XI and instead backed Deepak Hooda. However. Star finisher Dinesh Karthik found a place in the squad and Pathan named him the wicketkeeper.

The great all-rounder said that he might want to include Arshdeep Singh in his playing XI. However, Irfan Pathan further added the talented left-armer had to be left out of the playing XI for Team India to make place for experience. 

It's just whether I can make space for Arshdeep in the team: Irfan Pathan

“See, in my opinion, if you're playing the first match, you need to have some experienced bowlers including one spinner. So, from the top, my playing 11 would be - Rohit, KL Rahul, number three - Virat (Kohli), number four - Suryakumar Yadav, number five - Deepak Hooda, number six - Hardik Pandya, number seven - Dinesh Karthik, number eight will be a right arm leg spinner so it would be (Yuzvendra) Chahal, 9 to 11, here there will be Jasprit Bumrah, Harshal Patel and along with that you can go for Bhuvaneshwar Kumar," he said to Star Sports. 

“So, there will be a combination here, three fast bowlers out of which two are quality fast bowlers, who will be able to bowl at the death as well. And I will make sure that I have the combination and the liberty to choose from the three fast bowlers, even Arshdeep (Singh) to handle the death bowling. So, in my opinion, in the playing 11, the spinner is clear, it's just whether I can make space for Arshdeep in the team,” Irfan Pathan said. 

Irfan Pathan’s playing XI: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar, Deepak Hooda, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal