Irfan Pathan omits this star player from his ideal India XI for 20-20 World Cup 2022

India just finished a five-match T20I home series against South Africa with a score line of 2-2. The last match got washed out due to rain, which resulted in both teams sharing the series. Players like Ishan Kishan and Avesh Khan had a good series, while Rishabh Pant, once again, failed to hit the straps. 

In the absence of KL Rahul, Pant was given the opportunity to lead the Indian team and he did a good job after losing the first two matches. However, as a batter, he managed only 58 runs in five innings at a poor strike rate of 105.45.

Pant was criticized for bad outings with the bat by both the fans and former cricketers. Former Indian player, Irfan Pathan also shared his ideal India XI for the upcoming mega event by not including Pant in it.

“You require a player who has experience.” - Irfan Pathan

Speaking on Star Sports, Irfan Pathan said that he will pick Dinesh Karthik over Pant for the 20-20 World Cup. 

“In Australia, you need strong starts as the ball swings and seams. You require a player who has experience. Kohli may not have performed well so far but in Australia, he has scored a lot of runs,” Irfan Pathan stated. 

In his preferred team, he has also picked up Suryakumar Yadav over Shreyas Iyer.

 'Apart from these couple of games, he has done well, be it the series against Sri Lanka or West Indies before the IPL. So yes, he is making his case very strong. He performed really well, he is just coming hard against the bowlers from the word go and that’s the kind of character you need as well when you want someone to bat higher up the order,” Pathan added. 

Speaking of form, Dinesh Karthik earned his comeback call with a stellar campaign with his Bangalore franchise in the Indian T20 League. Even, in this T20I series, he scored 92 runs in four innings at an average of 46 and a strike rate of 158.62 while batting down the order. 

Irfan Pathan’s ideal XI for the 20-20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah.