I would have picked Mohammed Shami, Umran Malik and Shubman Gill for the T20 World Cup: Dilip Vengsarkar

Some surprises were spotted in the squad as India announced their team for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia. Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel, who were injured during the Asia Cup returned back to the team to replace Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi. Rishabh Pant and Ravichandran Ashwin’s names were discussed by many but they ultimately found their place in the 15-member squad.

Ever since the announcement took place, many have expressed their views on social media. Harbhajan Singh for example wanted Umran Malik back in the squad but the selectors weren’t convinced enough. Now, like Harbhajan Singh, former India captain and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar also wanted Umran Malik in the squad along with Mohammed Shami and Shubman Gill.

“I would have picked Mohammed Shami, Umran Malik and Shubman Gill for the T20 World Cup. Would have given them a long run in T20Is because they all had a brilliant IPL season,” Vengsarkar told Indian Express.

Now, even though Shami is in the scheme of things as the speedster will feature in the T20I series against Australia and South Africa, Umran Malik and Shubman Gill are far away from the T20I set-up. Given a chance, Umran failed massively against Ireland and England in the summer while Gill is yet to make his debut for India in T20 Internationals.

Suryakumar Yadav is a great finisher, can bat at number five: Dilip Vengsarkar

Now, with so many players having the quality to bat at the top of the order, the Indian team is currently in turmoil. One of course is the fact whether they want to play Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik and secondly, if Pant plays, where will he bat and what about Deepak Hooda who’s not batting at his preferred number? The questions are plenty and Vengsarkar believes that the captain and the team management need to sort that out. He however shared his advice and stated that the team can try Suryakumar Yadav at number five.

“I can't really comment on who bats at what number. It is up to the think tank, the coach, the captain and the vice-captain. But I feel Suryakumar Yadav, who is batting at 4, can bat at 5 as well. He can be a great finisher. T20 is not like ODIs and Test cricket, where you need certain batters at certain positions. In this format, anybody can bat anywhere. You don't have time to settle down. One should go after the bowlers from ball one,” said the 66-year-old.

India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.

Standby players - Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar.