Sanju Samson in selection battle with Shubman Gill despite KL Rahul snub in India’s T20 WC squad picked by Irfan Pathan

In a video shared by Star Sports on their social media page, Pathan’s squad involved little or no surprises. He preferred Rohit to open with Yashasvi Jaiswal, with Virat Kohli at No. 3. The former all-rounder had earlier explained to the IPL 2024 broadcasters that while Kohli as opener offers India the opportunity to fit in power-hitters like Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh, Jaiswal’s inclusion will allow Rohit an extra bowling option.

“If Virat opens up the batting, what happens is that it will allow the combination of 11 to be in a certain way, which you want. If that happens, you might see Dube playing, if he’s there in the squad. You might see guys like Rinku Singh in the playing 11 as well. But if Virat bats at number three, that might not happen. So that’s a big challenge. The other thing, if Jaiswal is playing, what can happen as he’s actually been bowling regularly in the nets. So what you can do is you can actually play proper five bowlers and maybe have him as a sixth bowler, as an option to keep it. Otherwise, if you look at the batting order, no one bowls. No one bowls in top six and that’s the biggest challenge what we have as Indian cricket. And that’s what we need to consider that as well. So for me, Jaiswal, Rohit and then Virat bats at number three,” he explained.

Pathan’s middle-order line-up comprised Suryakumar Yadav, Rinku, Rishabh Pant and Dube, before adding all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya.

The former T20 World Cup winner then expressed dilemma over having Ravi Bishnoi or Yuzvendra Chahal in the line-up, and eventually picked the youngster for being the better fielder. He said: “For spinners, especially wrist spinners, Kuldeep Yadav is a certainty. After that, if you take one more spinner then the contest is between Ravi Bishnoi and Yuzvendra Chahal. I will prefer Bishnoi as he is a better fielder.”

With Pant picked as the first-choice wicketkeeper, Pathan added Sanju Samson his list as the second option, thus ignoring KL Rahul. However, the Rajasthan Royals captain, who smashed an unbeaten 71 in just 33 balls against LSG on Saturday, wasn’t a complete surety in his line-up as he reckoned that one between him and Shubman Gill will be added as the 15th member while the other would be a travelling reserve.

He said: “For an extra batter, the discussion will be between Shubman Gill and Sanju Samson. It will be an extra batter or an extra wicketkeeper. If one is chosen in the 15-member squad, the other can go as a traveling reserve.”

Irfan Pathan’s India squad for T20 World Cup –

Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rinku Singh, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill/Sanju Samson.