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Harshal is a very good bowler between the overs 6-15. Plus he is a very good hitter as well. We should look out for more such players as T20 needs Allrounders rather than being one dimensional like Chahal. Harshal can be very handy in big australian grounds and Axar is a like to like replacement for jaddu. No surprise there. And Axar is as good as Harshal in all departments. In fact I will play Axar over Chahal any day of the week.

Bishnoi is a good prospect and I really like him but it was a given he won't play unless there are injuries. Again I will play Bishnoi over Chahal cos Chahal is mediocre since long and Bishnoi can bat and is an excellent fielder too, both of which chahal can't do.

Samson has only himself to blame. He plays T20 like it should be played, on a rapid pace without stat padding like KL Rahul. If Samson wants to play in Indian team he needs to learn to anchor and stat pad :p

Hooda won't get a chance unless someone is injured. I will still pick him ahead of Shreyas just cos Hooda can actually play pace well. I am more worried about Pant playing and DK sitting out.

All said and done my expectations from Indian team in WC are very low so I won't be disappointed much. I will stick pick Australia and SA as my favourite.

I personally have nothing against the Patel duo but is it not true that Axar has been there for 8 years without any significant performance in international cricket. Previously too I suspected the inew found injury theory of BCCI, so will wait till the series against Australia. Dinesh Karthik is clearly out of favor with somebody.

I think it will be worth a punt to push Rahul down the order and use him to bash the spinners like we did in the ODI format. That's much more likely to work than him opening. A lineup like this would be ideal:

Rohit
Hooda/Pant
Kohli
Surya
Rahul
DK
Pandya
Axar
Harshal
Bumrah
Arshdeep

This will be my starting 11 for the T20 World Cup

1. Rohit Sharma
2. Virat Kohli
3. Suryakumar Yadav
4. Deepak Hooda
5. Rishabh Pant
6. Hardik Pandya (Finisher 1)
7. DK (Finisher 2)
8. Axar Patel
9. Harshal Patel
10. Bumrah
11. Arshdeep

It's a hard job to be a selector so let's not get carried away and attribute politics to selection. We have only 15 slots open and I think they have picked the best team. Let's take the points you have raised.

In Australia, given the conditions, you ideally need to pick 4 fast bowlers, 1 allrounder and 1 spinner. I suspect we will start with 3 fast bowlers (Bumrah, Bhuvi, Harshal), Hardik and Chahal. Now in T20s you also need a defensive 6th bowler. That could be Axar or Ashwin.

While Jadeja is irreplaceable, Axar is the closest we get to a like-for-like. Takes the ball away, has a lethal arm ball, is very economical and is a left handed power hitter. India needs left handers for matchups which we are terribly short of. Remember how Nawaz devastated us in the Asia Cup by floating up the order against our spinners? Axar can potentially do that.

Ash is a great option too. Experienced, economical and has big-match temperament. He can bat too. So we have 3 spinners in the squad and that's enough. As much as I love Bishnoi, I feel his lack of batting skill worked against him. Ash is just as good as Bishnoi, if not better against left-handers. So Ravi B is on standby. He is young though so his time will come.

I'm a big Samson fan but again he doesn't fit in. We have two keepers in the squad. DK will start the WC. Pant provides that vital left hand option in case we need it. Which means we need to drop either KL or Hooda to fit Sanju in. I know KL gets a lot of flak for stat padding but he is a fine player and the vice captain so he must be in the squad. Hooda is a very fine prospect and is the only one amongst the top 5 who can bowl a bit of spin. That is a useful option to have if the opposition has left handers. So he gets picked in the squad.

While Sanju is a wonderfully impactful player, he hasn't really broken the door down with his performances to make him indispensable. His performances in the 16 T20s is reasonable but not outstanding. He needs to look at SKY to see what needs to be done.

I'd take Sanju Samson over Hooda every single day. I'd take him over KL Rahul also.

The WT20 is a month away & the selectors have gone back to Shami & Umesh Yadav! Both were not part of their T20 plans in the past 1yr. Its quite clear that the selectors no longer seem to have the faith in youngsters when it comes to marquee tournaments.

Well, youngsters like Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Umran Malik haven't done great in recent opportunities. Thats why Shami was picked and Umesh too had a good IPL this year so he is picked. Youngster like Arshdeep who has done well in his opportunities is already in the team. So, youngsters need to do more if they want to be selected regularly.

Please arrange few more matches with Afghanistan, srilanka is also a tough competitor now!!

Absolutely brilliant batting by Pandya ! What an inning !!

Pandya is in sublime form, he is the future captain.

Also how the hell does Umesh Yadav comes in as a replacement and starts in 11, Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid should be giving tactician of the decade award.

Catches win Matches..
We badly need a "catching" coach to save Team India's blushes :unhappy

Also, don't we need a "19th over" specialist bowling coach!? :Frustrati

If Virat Kohli had been the captain and Shastri the coach then BHPians would have completely lost their cool looking at India's losses in Asia Cup and in the 1st T20I against Australia.

What a pathetic bowling performance. Seriously. 55 was needed in 5 overs and they complete in style. We just don’t know how to bowl at the death. We got exposed at the Asia cup too with the way we bowl overs 17-20.

This was quality opposition for a team which is selected on the basis of IPL performance. Aarshdeep ignored, dropped catches, school level bowling attack, what else to say about the India team?