MSK Prasad Picks His India Squad For T20 World Cup 2021

Former BCCI chief selector MSK Prasad has announced his India squad for the T20 World Cup, which is scheduled for October-November in the UAE. Instead of a regular 15-man squad, MSK Prasad has named an extended squad.

One of the debatable names for the T20 squad has been that of Shikhar Dhawan with India having KL Rahul and now Virat Kohli in contention for opening alongside Rohit Sharma.

Not only MSK Prasad has included Dhawan in his squad, but he has also added Prithvi Shaw in it. While Shaw has been in imperious form in white-ball cricket this year, Dhawan apart from the IPL has failed to make his chances for India count.

The former selector has placed Rahul in the middle-order along with the in-form Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, and Hardik Pandya.

“I still feel that Shikhar Dhawan should be there. It should be Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, and Prithvi Shaw as the three openers. And the middle-order will be Virat, SKY, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant. KL is going to play in the middle-order only because there’s Rohit and Shikhar, and even Prithvi Shaw also is in outstanding form. And again, it’s in Asian conditions, so I have a feeling he might be there,” MSK Prasad told Sportskeeda.

In the spin department, the 46-year-old felt Washington Sundar will surely slot in the squad along with Ravindra Jadeja and Krunal Pandya as other spin-bowling all-rounders.

The decision to go with the mystery of Varun Chakravarthy or the experience of Yuzvendra Chahal is debatable for him; so if the choice between Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson.

“I don’t think they will take five spinners. Washington Sundar is a T20 specialist bowler, no two ways about it, and Jadeja will anyway be in the squad. Then, Krunal Pandya – he can bat, he can bowl, he can field. Apart from these three, whether you’ll go with a Chahal or an ex-factor in Varun Chakravarthy depends on how they perform in the IPL because that will also take place in the UAE,” he added.

For the pacers, apart from the senior trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the former India batsman has also included in-form Mohammed Siraj in the extended squad.

MSK Prasad’s India squad for T20 World Cup:

Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan/Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Varun Chakravarthy/Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar

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