Sunil Gavaskar Picks His 15-Member India Squad For ICC T20 World Cup 2021, Krunal Pandya In; No Place For Shikhar Dhawan And Shreyas Iyer

Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar picked his 15-man squad for India for the forthcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Interestingly, the former Indian skipper did not select Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer in his team. Krunal Pandya got an entry into Gavaskar’s list. BCCI is expected to announce the India squad for T20 World Cup 2021 on Wednesday (September 9).

ICC T20 World Cup 2021 will begin on October 17 in UAE. Ahead of the World Cup, IPL 2021 will a major event that will happen at the same venue. From October 17, the qualifiers round will take place between two groups. 2 teams from both groups will make it to Super 12. Australia, England, West Indies, and South Africa are part of group 1 while India, Pakistan, New Zealand, and Afghanistan are part of group 2. These 8 teams have already qualified for the Super 12 stage.

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No Place For Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer In Sunil Gavaskar’s Squad

Sunil Gavaskar talked about his 15-man squad for India during a conversation on Sportstak. To notable exclusions were Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer. Dhawan has been a regular opener for team India in the limited-overs format for the last 7-8 years. The left-handed batsman also led the second-string Indian squad during the Sri Lanka tour in July. Even in IPL 2021 1st leg, the Delhi Capitals opener Dhawan finished as top run-scorer.

Shreyas Iyer was also not part of the list. India’s last two T20I series before Sri Lanka tour were against England (March 2021) and Australia (December 2020). Shreyas Iyer was part of both series. After facing an elbow injury in March, Iyer was ruled out of the field. He has not played an international or competitive match since then. However, he will be making a comeback in the IPL 2021 UAE leg.

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Krunal Pandya was an interesting addition that Sunil Gavaskar made to his squad. Gavaskar stressed that the senior Pandya has performed consistently in IPL over the past few years and he is an advantage being left-handed. The 72-year-old also picked Washington Sundar in the squad, who is out of the field due to an injury currently. For all-rounders, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja were the other two players that Sunil Gavaskar picked.

For pacers, the former Indian opener picked Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, and Deepak Chahar. Yuzvendra Chahal was the only full-time spinner that Gavaskar picked in his squad. For the wicket-keeper, Gavaskar went ahead with Rishabh Pant.

Yuzvendra Chahal (Image Credit: Twitter)

Here is Sunil Gavaskar’s 15-man India squad for ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar (subject to fitness), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, and Yuzvendra Chahal.