T20 World Cup 2024: Hardik Pandya included, Sanju Samson dropped as Irfan Pathan names India's playing XI for WC

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan, who is very vocal with his thoughts, has named his predicted playing XI of the Indian team for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024. 

The Men's chief selection committee headed by Ajit Agarkar announced the 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup 2 days ago and also named 4 reserve players. All the selected Indian players are currently participating in IPL 2024 and those players who will not qualify for the playoffs this season will leave for the USA by May 21st. 

At the moment, everyone including Irfan Pathan is waiting for the media address of Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Ajit Agarkar live from Mumbai. Therein, Rohit and Agarkar are expected to shed light on the Indian squad that has been selected for the World Cup and how they will be able to see off the other 20 teams to grab their first ICC trophy since the 2013 Champions Trophy. 

Irfan Pathan names his playing XI and snubs Mohammad Siraj 

Almost every other expert pundit is excluding Mohammad Siraj from their predicted playing XI. It could be because of the form and performance that Siraj has displayed in the Indian Premier League 2024 season for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. And Irfan Pathan was no different as he, too, left out Siraj who has registered only 6 wickets from 9 games for the franchise. 

Mohammad Siraj has also conceded 323 runs from 204 deliveries with a poor average of 53.83 and an economy rate of 9.50. 

Now let's get to Irfan Pathan's playing XI. In the opening slot, Irfan went with the usual Test match pairing of skipper Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

The top-order picked by Irfan Pathan was a no-brainer as he named stalwart Virat Kohli at number 3 and India's own Mr. 360 Suryakumar Yadav. 

In the wicket-keeper batsman pick, Irfan Pathan went with Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant instead of Rajasthan Royals' Sanju Samson. The former all-rounder, who was the man of the match in the final that India won in 2007 of the inaugural T20 World Cup, named CSK's Shivam Dube as the number 6 batter.

In the lower middle order, Irfan Pathan chose Hardik Pandya, whom he has criticized quite a lot in the recent past, and CSK's Ravindra Jadeja at number 8. 

On the bowling front, Irfan Pathan chose Kuldeep Yadav instead of Yuzvendra Chahal to pair with Jadeja. In the pace bowling department, Pathan picked IPL 2024's current Purple Cap holder Jasprit Bumrah who will pair with Arshdeep Singh.  

Irfan Pathan's predicted playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh 

Team India's schedule for the T20 World Cup 2024 

The Indian team under Rohit Sharma's captaincy will kick off their World Cup T20 campaign against Ireland on June 5 (Wednesday) at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York. 

India's following 3 group matches will be against Pakistan on June 9 (Sunday), USA on June 12 (Wednesday) and Canada on June 15 (Saturday).